Carpe Diem
by Hypothetical.Wonder
Summary: Seize the day. In my words: "Victory before insanity." That's what Zexion thought when Demyx had the brilliant idea to set Axel up with Roxas Caine. - Rewrite!
1. Foreword

ANNOUNCEMENT: Yes, I'm doing a rewrite. Why? Well, the last version of _Carpe Diem_ just didn't hold that ... "sophistication" I was aiming for. I don't know. I just didn't like it very much when I decided to read over the entire thing one day. Thus, I completely rewrote everything, and just to make things more interesting, I added new events and twists to the plot - most of it being bascially the same, though. BUT if the readers decide that the last version was better than this, then I don't know. Maybe I'll go back to it, or I'll just stick to this one, saying: "What the heck, why go back now?"

I didn't change much, but I'm not quite sure if everything's okay. (shrug) You guys be the judge.

Comments on the foreword? It's a bit boring for my taste, but everything will be _way_ more interesting in the next chapters! (I hope ...)

* * *

Carpe Diem

_Seize the day. In my words, "Victory before insanity." That's what Zexion thought when Demyx had the brilliant idea to set Axel up with Roxas Caine._

_- - -_

Throughout life, there are a lot of things that I've learned. The basic things, the little things, the greater things - and at one point, I assumed I knew it all. Though some encounters served to remind me that not everything was within my mental grasp. I was familiar with and well versed on the workings of society, politics, economy, and business (frankly, if I dropped out of school at the age of seventeen, I'd still be a shining success). I could tell the difference between all the linear and trigonometry equations in class without even batting an eyelash. Calculus and physics were barely hurdles to me, whereas everyone else carried their weight around like milestones chained to their limbs. While students were crying because their 3000 word report on Shakespeare's _Macbeth_ was walking the fine line between passable and bloody, I was already moving on to an essay on the _Iliad_. So one can imagine that I, being the brightest student in my year, had developed a somewhat jaded outlook on life. Nothing ever surprised me anymore, and day to day events ceased to withhold my interest for any longer than a minute. This would be the only explanation as to why I even agreed to play along with Demyx's little "project". Boredom and barely restrained curiosity did that to a person.

High school had, more or less, been extremely uneventful for the first year I spent with my friends at Trinity High School. The school was prestigious and was the best among the best within the Hollow Bastion educational district. Having come from a junior high school like Arcanum Preparatory, I expected nothing less than the finest, which was the reason I attended THS in the first place. I expected the environment to be challenging, the curriculum to be more on par with my level. I wanted a trial that I never got during elementary and junior high school. And most of all, I wanted at least a little bit of excitement, although I would never say that aloud. My peers perceived me as intolerant of such things, and that is a reputation that I like keeping. Zexion Consilium: Grade A anti-socialite.

Despite that however, I came to THS with my friends in tow. I had to help Demyx study for the entrance exams - a hell that I would prefer not to repeat. Happily, Axel and Riku could actually keep up with my level and passed with flying colours, whereas Demyx got an adequate mark, and I, of course, received a hundred percent. I fully expected high school to be the little thrill in life that I was looking for. Unfortunately, it held the same taste as elementary and junior high - unbearably bland and way, way, _way_ too easy to be healthy. I took all the honours classes, but unfortunately, I couldn't go up a grade level. Demyx had cried when I said I wanted to, saying that I shouldn't because he would miss his best friend too much. Lies. He only wants to copy my homework since Axel and Riku would never let him copy theirs.

So throughout freshman year, it was like eating those veggie burgers Demyx is so fond of. Veggie burgers on Monday, veggie burgers on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, so on and so forth. A school year contains approximately ten months, and in a month there are four weeks. In a week, there are five school days. The math is simple: two hundred days of the same old veggie burger. One can only stomach the tediousness of the days for so long. I'm sure that not even Demyx Diluvia would put up with eating the same thing every single day. That was how high school felt, although for everyone else who had "social lives," namely Axel, Riku, and Demyx, balancing school work, sports, and mingling was a trying ordeal.

Axel eventually became president of the _Delta Animus_, our school's debate team with a flawless (and ruthless) winning streak. He also had varsity basketball, volleyball, and track. And through some way, I don't know precisely how, Axel became the manager of the soccer team.

Riku was the prize and glory of the Drama Club, second only to Demyx himself, and was already captain of the varsity swim team, who had not suffered a single loss since his recruitment. He was also on the volleyball team with Axel, co-captain of the football team, was in badminton, tennis, wall climbing, archery, and surprisingly was in the Culinary Arts Club. He made the most heavenly pasta on God's green earth.

Demyx, however, was a whole other story entirely. He must have been in every single club within the school, and was president of the Drama, Art, Music, Creative Writing, and Culinary Arts Clubs (_his_ pasta made Riku's taste like dog hair). Demyx just so happened to be the swim team's most invaluable member, and he played tennis and badminton with Riku as well.

Through all that, the three still managed to get straight As (with an occasional B or C from Demyx) in every single class that they had. I considered the possibility of taking up extracurricular activities, thinking that the added movement would make life a little more challenging. I persuaded Axel to let me join the debate team, and crushing our opponents at that point had been easier than flicking my wrist. I joined tennis with Riku, since violent sports like football were not in my taste. That had been easy, too. I never lost a game. Eventually, after trying out badminton, wall climbing, and track, I still didn't have the level of difficulty that I wanted in my school life. So I settled for joining those sports teams and going for a few clubs as well. Through Demyx, I had connections like no other. Midyear I was able to join Culinary Arts, Creative Writing, Drama, and Chess just for the heck of it. But still, nothing. Even while being in the honours classes, with the blistering amount of homework and seatwork, I still breezed through freshman year like a hot air balloon slowly making its way across the Pacific with no bad weather to speak of. While others rejoiced when summer vacation rolled around the block, I was feeling endlessly frustrated with myself. Why had I gone through the trouble of joining all those socialistic activities to have no effort to show at the end of those two hundred days of ceaseless veggie burgers? I wanted effort to show for my work, but I had none that I could speak of.

That was how freshman year ended, with not so much as a tingle. I was honestly hoping for a bang, so one can only picture how a _tingle_ must have felt. It's like expecting an _Xbox 360_ for your birthday and all you get is a stupid, obsolete computer that ran on _Windows 1998_. With dial-up connection.

The year came and went, and before we all knew it, junior year had come. Others saw it as an opportunistic window, and some wanted to hurl at the mere thought of surviving yet another year of hectic high school. All _I _saw was Demyx's sleek black _Mercedes Benz_ pulling up on my driveway to take me to school "in style" - a testament that even Demyx had worked hard through freshman year and had reaped the benefits through a new car on his seventeenth birthday. Everyone in my family was accustomed to brilliance, my father being a brain surgeon and my mom a dentist. Every time I went home with a perfect, unflawed report card, or a brilliant essay guaranteed to get me through any university I so chose, it wasn't anything out of the norm. But of course, freshman year had been different because the success of various teams and clubs had been attributed to me, and it failed to escape the notice of my parents. They were proud, of course, and even bought me that new sound system that I couldn't help but stare at as it shone with pride and glory within the glass display of an electronics store. But _goddamnit_, success without blood, sweat, and tears was not what I wanted.

Even so, disappointment was something I would rather not live through, and beating myself up over a hopeless cause was not what I considered discerning. Thus I entered the gates of the THS parking lot, riding in Demyx's brand new car, without much expectation that this year was going to be any different. Of course, that was when life decided to be a bitch, because, hey, I didn't exactly see _it_ coming.

Junior year had undoubtedly been one of my most favourite times, although I hadn't really acknowledged it then. I had been way too busy with the project of Demyx's that I had mentioned. The whole ordeal had lasted for the first half of the school year, from October to December, and Demyx had it planned as such even ahead of time.

That had to be the most amazing fact about the Axel and Roxas Matchmaking Debacle; Demyx had been there every step of the way to make sure the two ended up together, and he was the one who initially dragged me into the highlight of my high school life. I would never call it meddling, what Demyx and I did, but merely a shove or two in the right direction. God knew Axel was never going to make the first move, considering how he mooned over Roxas Caine for the whole of freshman year. I would have been blind not to notice. He honestly looked just as stupid as Romeo had sounded in _Romeo and Juliet_ as his eyes followed Roxas everywhere like he was some sort of sick puppy - that needed to be put down, being my honest opinion.

The whole series of events reminded me, in no relevant manner, of _Romeo and Juliet_. As I said, Axel Kashou, the last man on earth I expect to be _whipped_, just so happened to be smitten with Roxas Caine, the only other person who came close to me in the running for valedictorian. Personally, I liked Roxas, and thought he was an excellent choice on Axel's part, but every time I pictured the blond shooting him down cold, I had trouble concealing a snigger or two. Because, you see, Roxas was a sensible young boy, chosen for advanced placement at an early age, which explained why he was a year younger than the rest of us. I frankly thought that no such person with high intellect and good sense would ever consider Axel Kashou, resident bad boy, as a potential partner - _boyfriend_. And yet Roxas, similar to the entirety of my junior year, flew past my expectations, and _way_ past my comfort zone.

Coincidentally, at around the time Axel began to harbour his well-concealed and growing infatuation, Roxas was dealing with the same predicament, although I never bothered to look twice every time his gaze lingered a second or two longer than normal as Axel walked into the room. As for the redhead, his infatuation was never that hard to notice. He never outright told me, but during freshman year, while I was flying back and forth from club meeting to classroom to team practice, it was obvious to me that Axel held great affection for the young blond. But I never stopped for one moment to consider that Roxas might feel the same way (I was too busy thinking that the kid had way too much common sense).

Going back to my _Romeo and Juliet_ analogy, Axel, however which way I thought about it, seemed most similar to Romeo Montague. No offence or demeaning insinuation meant, but Roxas, in my mind, had always played the part of Juliet Capulet. In my honest opinion, both Romeo and Juliet were too stupid and too love stricken to see the fine lines of reality to realize that a fling is _not_ worth committing consecutive suicide over. In the same way, Axel was stupid because … he was Axel, and Roxas's only fault in my mind is his incomprehensible choice in guys. Not only that, but through some meddling not of my or Demyx's doing, Axel and Roxas had been willing to throw away any good sagacity in their own inane attempts at showing the other that "Yes, I love you, you dumb, stupid, moron. God gave you two eyes and a beating heart. Use them for once in your life before I _gauge them out _with a _rusted spoon_." Which is my own way of saying that it was a suicide of dignity and self-esteem on their part, quite like the literal suicide of Romeo and Juliet.

What made the play so interesting and popular was probably the thought of two star-crossed lovers, destined to be torn apart by the scorn of their feuding families. In the Axel and Roxas Matchmaking Debacle, however, it was like they were being _pushed _in the direction of each other instead of being pulled in separate directions. The only obstacle that ever stood in their way was the fact that neither Axel nor Roxas had the balls to walk up to the other and say: "I've been hopelessly and stupidly in love with you for god knows how long. Will you go out with me?"

Stupidly absurd, I know.

Although, I admit, they had gotten to a point where confessing was to be the next step, and it was so close that anyone within three feet of the happy, soon-to-be couple could taste the saccharine atmosphere of love, amore, and liebe. Love, love, love. This, when happiness is one step ahead, is when irony the sadistic bitch comes tangoing into the room.

The only thing close to the Montague-Capulet rivalry that I can find was Demyx's rivalry with Marluxia Belgravia, a senior. Through all the gory details that I would tire of explaining, the main antagonist of our play is somehow thrust into the limelight because of these two. Without his consent.

Riku St. Mark.

Riku, I can honestly say through all my observations, was an innocent victim in the series of misunderstandings that built all the drama paramount to the play. The odd thing was that he had caused all the strife, at least to the public eye, and a rift between our lovers ran amuck because of his hardly significant involvement. And if asked at one point whether or not he had been directly concerned within the Axel and Roxas Matchmaking Debacle, Riku would probably laugh, shake his head, and walk away, leaving you with the nagging suspicion that you've just been insulted. Which would ultimately be a no on his behalf.

Within a play, or any story for that matter, there shall always be the protagonists and antagonists. In the case of my junior year, Axel and Roxas played the part of protagonists, and Riku was unfortunately cast into the role of antagonist, even without his knowing. Other characters hardly matter at this point, but the one other factor that made all of this so interesting is Demyx, my best friend.

Amazingly enough, he kept up the whole shebang with discretion, and his machinations ran as smoothly as water trickling down an inclined plane. Nobody but me knew of Demyx's plan to guarantee Axel happiness (that's was _his_ intention, not mine, I assure you), and indeed it stayed that way even up to present date. The secrecy and fine-tuned details were what impressed me most, and the way I perceived my best friend had changed permanently since those days. I admit that only after years of friendship have I now come to develop respect for Demyx, idiot that he can be sometimes.

One can say that the only reason I agreed to play along was because I was bored, nothing in life interested me as much, and I was simply looking for an escape from such a mundane reality. In most ways, that's true. But it may have stemmed from something that Demyx always told me, his motto if you wish.

_Take a chance._

In an instant, a familiar phrase pops into my head. _Carpe diem_.

Seize the day.

Pondering over past events, past failures, past successes, past laughter, and now present happiness, I can't help but sometimes smile. My search for something interesting, something fresh and new, a spark in my life, was in a way similar to all this. I intended to succeed above everything else, and the only thing that would have stopped me would have been my own madness. This too was how I saw the intentions and desires of Axel and Roxas, the determination that Demyx held. The fine line between defeat and triumph was one step shy of lunacy.

And so, the opening statement and overall précis of my junior year events:

Victory before insanity.

* * *

Reviews are MUCH appreciated! (Especially if they tell me what I've done right or what I've done wrong.)


	2. Act I: A Scheme within a Plot

Carpe Diem

_Seize the day. In my words, "Victory before insanity." That's what Zexion thought when Demyx had the brilliant idea to set Axel up with Roxas Caine._

_- - -_

_Act I: Scheme Within a Plot_

**Announcement**: Ladies and gentlemen, it is that time of year once again within the halls of Trinity High School! We, the student council, are proud to host this year's annual December Talent Show at the Castle Theatre within the very heart of our beloved Hollow Bastion. This December, the Talent Show will be held on the night of the 16th at the scheduled time of eight o'clock pm to ten o'clock.

Auditions: October 29th, Radiant Garden Studios (132 78 - 90 Street), 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Final List: Posted at the lobby bulletin board on November 10th

_Application forms will be available a week from this announcement, and must be presented at the auditions with teacher signatures completed. _

Be ready to show us your very best, dear students of THS! Judges during the Talent Show will include myself, Zack Fair, student council president, and two other surprise guests. Practice and rehearse with all you've got because the top twenty acts will be the only ones set to perform on the night of December 16th. The best among the best will be determined and the winner shall receive five thousand munny and a scholarship to the University of Ivalice!

- - -

_(October 1, 2008: Monday)_

The December Talent Show in Trinity High School, without a trace of doubt, was probably the most important event within the academic year, close in running to the student council elections and the Peace Campaign held every January. The amount of pressure surrounding the whole endeavour and the tension for success that came with it could only be more emphasized by the fact that the competition was strong. THS housed a considerable number of talented, brilliant students, and not only were they gifted and smart, but aggressive on the playing field. They would probably bludgeon each other to death with their musical instruments, ballet shoes, and choreography tapes not just for the scholarship to UOI or the prize money, but for the title of THS talent champion of whatever such year. The title not only earned you respect and a place within the high school community, but it also brought you to the immediate attention of talent scouts and agents all over the nation. So one can only imagine the blood, sweat, and tears shed in order to gain a slot in the top twenty set to perform on the night of December 16th.

"AXEL, PLEASE. JUST THIS ONCE AND I SHALL NEVER ASK AGAIN."

Which would explain Demyx Diluvia's current state of utter desperation.

Axel Kashou raised his thin brows at the blond kneeling at his feet, who was looking quite pitiable at the moment. With a small and exasperated exhale from his long, thin nose, the redhead looked with disdain upon his so called friend. His green eyes held no amusement, only a mild touch of annoyance that, if tested any further, would probably blow out of proportion. "I've told you time and again, Demyx: You're not paying me; you owe me nothing; and you can't blackmail me. Check in the dictionary if you haven't a clue what 'no' means."

The blue-eyed blond was silent for a moment, his brain probably not comprehending such blatant rejection. Then a loud, long wail erupted from his lips in drawn out notes of despair. "But _why_?"

Axel's lip twitched, and he turned to look at Zexion, patience on the brink of suicide. "Zexion, can I borrow your lexicon?"

The slate-haired boy raised a brow - the visible one at least, because his hair covered half his face. "Whatever for?"

"To throw at your annoying lapdog. He obviously doesn't know that no means NO."

There was an anguished sob from Demyx as he shuffled closer to Axel's legs on his knees. "Axel, _please_," he cried, voice utilizing all feelings of sorrow. "You're the best guitar player I know in the whole city! I _can't_ win the Talent Show if you don't play guitar for me! I _need_ you."

Axel made the mistake of glancing at Demyx. His full intention was to glare at him with so much spite to rival the sourness of a lemon but the blond honestly looked like he was going to start crying. And Axel, no matter how much he loathed Demyx's undignified grovelling, didn't like making a friend cry. Of course, he made Demyx cry a lot of times during their younger years as friends, but childhood held very little influence on his higher appeal to wisdom, so that didn't count.

Snorting with utter disdain, Axel nudged Demyx with his foot as if to tell him that he was excused from his bootlicking duties. "Find someone else, Demyx. There is no way in hell that you can convince me to join your little quest for stardom." Axel gave the statement a good touch of condescension as he patted Demyx on the head, walking away with Riku for their next class.

Demyx's left eye twitched, not noticing Zexion's inquiry of "Um … Demyx, do you need to lie down?"

Ever since the announcement fliers had been handed out in the last week of September, he had been more than thrilled to audition for the December Talent Show. Demyx's one true love throughout life had always been music, theatre, the performing arts. Since elementary, he had joined every single play, skit, dance, and talent show ever held within his school, and the same routine carried on throughout junior high. He had been recognized, received awards, a couple of trophies and medals, but the Talent Show that THS hosted was like no other.

Demyx could recall watching it a few years back when he was in the fourth grade, and all the performances didn't cease to amaze him. From that day onward, he vowed to win the title of champion if he ever attended Trinity.

Now was his chance, and the one presentation that he knew was a guaranteed victory wasn't going to work. Why? Because Axel, his friend of eight years, was being a monumental douche bag.

Zexion looked worriedly at his best friend, who knelt with no expression whatsoever to the side of the third floor hallway. People were starting to stare, and he was beginning to feel embarrassed out of association. He waved a hand in front of Demyx's face. "Demyx, you're starting to worry me. This is no big deal. I can find you someone else other than-"

"NO BIG DEAL?"

Zexion stepped back in alarm as Demyx started to scream, having bolted upright from his kneeling position.

"I've been dreaming of the Talent Show ever since I was ten, for freaking god's sake! Every single voice lesson, guitar lesson, music class, and _every moment that I breathe _is dedicated to this show! So don't tell me that it's no big deal!!"

Zexion grimaced, knowing better than to respond when Demyx was in a state of hysterics. He would give his rants one, three minutes tops. Zexion had time to spare. The Literature teacher loved him, so what was a few minutes of tardiness from a star pupil?

"This is my _dream_ - something I've been wanting for seven whole years, goddamnit!" The blond waved his hands around wildly as he shouted, making several passers-by scuttle past with extreme cautiousness. "Then _Axel_ just has to be such a _dickhole_ and _ruin_ my one _fucking_ chance to reach my _lifelong vision_!!"

Wincing at the terrible use of language, Zexion counted the seconds that passed by. As Demyx continued to rave, with more and more expletives inserted in between words, he counted the seconds ticking by. One more minute …

"- I'll live the rest of my life renting out my parents' basement if I don't get this chance! Oh _god_, I'll end up like Mrs. Wicker down the street who talks to her _cat_-"

Twenty seconds …

"- I don't want to remain a virgin until I'm fifty! I'll be too old to have sex by then! My genes won't be passed on and I'll be a genetic failure -"

A vein pulsed on Zexion's temple as someone passed by, muttering "Oh, he wouldn't be a virgin if it were up to _me_."

The slate-haired boy counted down to zero, and he levelled a stare at Demyx, who had apparently run out of steam. The blond now looked weary, shoulders sagging, and his eyes gazed at Zexion with exhaustion. "Ah … sorry, Zex. I shouldn't have taken my anger out on you."

How predictable.

"I mean," Demyx continued, picking up his books from where he had left them on the floor earlier, "Axel didn't have to be so mean about it. We've been friends for such a long time … I thought he'd at least support me or something." His eyes closed for a few moments, then opened and the dejection he felt was unhidden. "If it was Axel who asked me for something, I'd do it in a heartbeat."

There was a pause, and afterwards Zexion sighed. He strode towards the stairwell at the very end of the hallway. As Demyx fell in step beside him, Zexion frowned to himself. "Demyx, you have to understand. Axel isn't the type to be very generous. He's no philanthropist. And let's face it; you two don't exactly have a very loving history."

Looking back on all those years when Axel broke his crayons, threw clay at him, stuck gum in his hair, and hid his lunchbox, Demyx winced. Of course, he was to blame for ruining Axel's science project during the fifth grade, his dog had chewed Axel's _iPod Touch_ to bits, and Demyx had pulled that prank on him where Axel's hair emerged victim from a very severe water-dousing on a hot, _humid_ summer day. So Demyx would pretty much say that the two of them were even, but he had a feeling that the notion was one-sided.

"Well, yeah. We've had some rough patches, but that's no reason to flat out refuse me when I obviously need his help," Demyx said, lower lip jutting outward in a childish pout that didn't quite suit his angled features.

Zexion kept his pace consistent, listening well. A thought nagged at the back of his mind, but he pushed it away.

"Besides … if Axel agrees, I'll be doing him a favour."

Although Demyx still sounded sad and quite dejected, the hint of anticipation in his voice was obvious. Zexion nearly flinched, but he chose to keep a straight face, even with some difficulty.

"Demyx, I think it's best not to push it. Knowing Axel, he'll hunt you down …"

The blond turned to look at him, determination shining on his smiling face. "But Zexion! If everything works out in the end, maybe he won't be such a grouch to me all the time! And Axel does deserve to be happy, you know, even if he can be a pain sometimes."

Zexion didn't like the sound of Demyx's resolve, but he knew that there was no talking some sense into him. From the very moment that those stupid scented fliers had been passed out - they smelled like lilies, for god's sake - Zexion knew that Demyx had something big up his sleeve. And suckering Axel into his little act was only step one in Demyx's "epical" plan for a conquest long since abandoned.

Adjusting his hold on his books, Zexion blew his hair a couple of inches away from his face, until it settled back down against his cheek, the fine strands tickling him slightly. Demyx kept on talking, and Zexion tried to seem nonplussed.

"Axel always puts up that tough, macho act as if he doesn't have a feeling bone in his body. But I know otherwise," Demyx stated matter-of-factly with a wave of his hand. Grinning, he continued. "He's just emotionally insecure, and I have a way to solve that for him! That's why he has to agree to help me out with the show. If Axel says yes, I'm in for a sure win, and he's going to have all his worries worked out. _Then_ we all have our happily ever after!"

Zexion had to think about Demyx's words. Axel, emotionally insecure? The guy was nothing but cocky and arrogant, so what the hell was Demyx talking about?

Deciding not toput _that_ into question, he shrugged, smiling just a little. "And the Talent Show will get rid of all his insecurities and stage fright. You're a genius, Demyx. Brilliant."

The blond laughed, as though this were a form of a joke that he couldn't get enough of. "Right, Zex. We're getting rid of his stage fright."

The shorter boy nearly flinched at Demyx's verbal use of "we." As far as he was concerned, he didn't want any part of incurring Axel's wrath. The guy was pissed off enough as it was, what with Demyx tailing him around all the time with one begging session after another. It could only take so much for Axel to blow his top off. Zexion had no fear of being called a coward, but if Axel got wind of Demyx's "secret plans," he'd be gunning for both their sorry asses, and if it did reach that point, Zexion was hightailing it out of town. Demyx would have to be left behind. Bludgeoning him to death would probably stall Axel's anger long enough for Zexion to reach the Swiss alps.

As far as Zexion was aware of, he merely gave a nod to Demyx's statement as they both made their way down the staircase. Demyx headed straight for his Biology class and they parted ways when Zexion entered room 201 for Literature. The teacher didn't even blink when his star pupil arrived three minutes late to class, and Zexion was thankful for that. He needed to think.

Demyx, in his very misguided attempts to do Axel a favour, was going to get himself killed. For him to slowly back off and leave the matter alone was a very delicate procedure - like brain surgery. Zexion had to choose his words wisely. The wrong phrasing could lead to very catastrophic results. The poor idiot had fully deluded himself into thinking that Axel's self-esteem was in need of some salvaging, and so had resulted to heroics. If the redhead ever caught wind of his best friend's silly little enterprise, Zexion didn't want to pick pieces of Demyx up from the floor. As far as he was concerned, his friend was stupid but didn't deserve to be dismembered because of good intent.

Demyx's goal was to get Axel to play electric guitar for him in the Talent Show. Zexion could only hope that Axel didn't give in, no matter what Demyx attempted.

- - -

Life was simple enough when Demyx thought about it. All you needed to get through a day was optimism, goodwill, and a bright attitude. Which would explain how he survived seventeen years of breathing without ever worrying about regrets and mistakes. 'I'm human after all,' he would say to himself if any blunder would ever occur by his hand, intentionally or not. Most often, he never meant to slip-up, and tried frequently to prevent himself from accidentally committing mishaps. At the end of the day, though, he never blamed himself for much. Only said sorry at appropriate times and vowed never again to repeat the same mistakes. Living was easier and lighter that way.

He had lived seventeen years achieving that kind of ideal - "a part of his philosophy" a more likely depiction. Never regret your wrongs for far too long, and if needed, only do so at an appropriate length. Demyx didn't like being guilty or sad for a long time, and so his solution was to look at an error as though it were a lesson to be learned. That way it reduced the shame and misery to be felt. And he rather liked his way of thinking, and so stuck to it for as long as he could remember.

So why, when he had developed his viewpoint to perfection, did he now doubt every single action, word, and thought centered around Axel Kashou? They had been friends for eight years, ever since Axel had stood up for Demyx during the third grade when some big, hulking jerk named Ian had kicked him in the shin for no apparent reason. The three of them had been sent to the principal's office in their elementary school building after a particularly embarrassing attempt at overpowering the playground bully. The incident didn't bode well for Axel or Demyx, and had turned out even worse for Ian, who had been caught by their teacher hanging Demyx onto the monkey bars by his pants' belt. Although by that time, Axel had been feeling quite traumatized from being on the swing set a mile or two higher than what was normal.

Axel's and Demyx's hatred of Ian the Giant was enough common ground for a long-lasting friendship. They had shared eight years of friendship, so why was it that Axel was so adamant about refusing Demyx his eagerly sought after help? It was a simple case of playing that expensive electric guitar of his on a stage for a few minutes. Demyx could honestly not find what was so damned difficult about the entire ordeal.

So now he was going through the first day of October feeling a little angry, frustrated, and a bit more confused and remorseful than what he himself considered to be healthy. The mere fact that Axel was being a colossal jerkwad was enough for Demyx to reverse the thought process that he had adapted himself to for his entire life.

He's no philanthropist, Zexion had said. Now that he thought about it, Demyx could recall Axel doing him more harm than good all these years, or had otherwise seemed to be oblivious of his presence when not doing him said harm. Granted, Demyx had his share of unwarranted practical jokes, but he had at the very least apologized. They were still friends, bullying and pranking aside. So what was a little favour now and again between buddies?

Demyx pondered this question throughout Biology, with no intent of paying attention to the teacher any time soon. The rest of the morning went by exactly as it did in the Bio. room, his mental question and figurative Rubik's cube twisting and turning inside his head, like how a dice would never stop being rolled about at a casino in Port Royal. Unless he found an answer, but that seemed unlikely. Axel was edgy enough without being tailed around with the same question coming from Demyx again and again, so the blond decided that it would be a good idea to leave well enough alone. That is, until he could come up with a course of action. After all, if everything went according to plan, this would turn out with more profit, and not just for Demyx. He, after all, never just thought about himself.

Demyx slammed his books down onto a bleached rosewood table in the library, causing Zexion to jerk his head up in alarm. Several students turned their heads to glance at him with the same confused, stunned expression, but Demyx ignored them and sat down across Zexion, his face set in what seemed like an exaggerated tone of soberness.

"Bribery," he muttered, hands clasped solemnly in front of him on the table.

Zexion stared at him for a good two seconds, wrapping his head around the whole situation, then spoke. "You're going to bribe Axel into playing guitar for you in the Talent Show." The whole statement was spoken with nonchalance, but Zexion's eyes betrayed a hint of anxiousness.

Demyx nodded, as if they were discussing a close relative's funeral. "Yup. Begging obviously won't work, so I have to bribe him." He was silent for a moment, rolling the whole idea around in his head like dough about to be shoved into the oven only to be pulled out half-baked. Blue eyes looked up at Zexion for a moment, honestly curious. "Think he'd do it for free sex?"

"_Demyx_!" Zexion hissed, slamming his book shut.

The blond shrugged, looking tired and defeated. "Worth a try. I don't know what I have that Axel could possibly want bad enough."

Zexion was now looking quite disgruntled, but nonetheless dignified his best friend's words with a reply. "I have no idea either, but I do suggest dropping the issue. The entire thing is just not worth the effort."

Snapping his gaze onto the slate-haired boy, Demyx gave Zexion the full essence of his irritation by glaring. "I thought I told you already; I need Axel to win the Talent Show. No other guitar player is good enough. Besides, I'm doing him a favour. He may not know it, but I'm willing to do something nice for him." He said this with a bit of indignation, huffing a little as he leaned back in his seat.

Demyx thought he heard Zexion mutter something about delusional, but he could have heard wrong. Choosing to ignore the whole objection towards his actions, Demyx decided to continue from where he initially started. "So I have a few ideas in mind about how I'll convince him that helping me would be a good thing."

Cocking a brow sceptically, Zexion placed an elbow on the tabletop and rested his chin against the heel of his palm. "Option number one being?"

Demyx grinned. "Money."

- - -

(_Still October 1, Lunch)_

Shiny, silver plastic waved at his face, enough to give Demyx a seizure. "See this, Dem? It's my credit card. And how much does it hold?" Axel spoke the magical digits amounting to what the tiny piece of plastic held. Demyx's jaw dropped. "And how much are _you_ willing to pay me?"

Demyx nearly dropped his fork onto the floor, his abandoned risotto instantly growing stale in his peripheral vision. _How many zeros was that again?_

Immediately, he closed his gaping mouth and shut up as Axel smugly slid his card back into this wallet. The noise within the school lunch room was a statement that the world had not a care that Demyx was going to fast run out of options at the rate his luck was dwindling.

Zexion calmly placed his Pepsi can on the plastic surface of their table, looking at Demyx's shocked form as everyone else got back to their own previous conversations before Demyx's interruption of "Axel, I will pay whatever it takes for you to be in my band for the Talent Show. _Name your price_."

He muttered in a low tone so as not to attract the attention of the other juniors surrounding them. "So, what's option number two?"

Demyx grunted rather maliciously and a fork went sailing. The punctured Pepsi can flying onto the floor with a loud clatter was soon followed by his answer. "Music."

- - -

_(October 2, 2008: Tuesday)_

The reverberating toll of the household's doorbell rang long and loud, a merry sort of tune. Being the one closest to the front door, Axel stood on his feet from where he had been previously seated on the Russian chaise lounge in the living room, sauntering unhurriedly towards the tall mahogany threshold. He turned the brass handle, and was stunned to see Demyx huffing and panting on his lit porch, hand on the wooden railing adjacent the front door for support. In his other hand he held up two gold framed tickets that sparkled in the warm glow of Axel's porch light.

"Tickets … to Yuna's concert … Saturday," Demyx wheezed in between gulps of air. Once he had a leash on his breathing he straightened to look Axel square in the eye. "I had to run all the way to the Castle Theatre and back. These cost six-hundred munny each. They're front row." Axel saw Demyx's left eye twitch manically. "I had to beat through the crowd with a two-by-four. _For god's sake_, Sora materialized out of thin air and hit me with a _hockey stick_."

The two stared at each other for a moment or two. Demyx was apparently growing desperate, but still managed to get a grip on some semblance of his sanity. Axel scratched the back of his head, looking quite apologetic, and for a second the blond thought he saw victory.

"Ah, hate to break it to you, Demyx, but Riku already got tickets. With backstage passes. Really, I'm sorry, but it's still a no."

Later that evening, Demyx trotted into his bedroom, collapsing onto his bed face forward. Mindlessly, he grabbed his cell phone from his back pocket and hit speed dial number one.

"Hey, Zexion. You busy on Saturday?" Demyx asked calmly.

There was a pause on the line. Then: _"He has tickets already, doesn't he?"_

The blond promptly burst into tears.

- - -

_(October 3, 2008: Wednesday)_

On Wednesday, Demyx marched through the school doors with even more resolve. He was determined not to lose the best guitar player within the city to a mere mind game that Axel was apparently trying to play. Oh, he had _everything_ figured out. Axel, cheeky bastard that he was, wouldn't hold up the charade for much longer.

Walking through the halls with his jaw set firm, Demyx arrived within feet of Axel's locker. He could already see the red spikes standing out, even more so today because Axel had his hair in an abhorrent pony tail that had no impression of order whatsoever. Demyx realized that the redhead had gym first thing today, then shook his head when he noticed that that was irrelevant. He strode confidently up to Axel, and coughed loudly.

The redhead stiffened for a moment, then turned around to face Demyx with a slightly amused, slightly annoyed expression. "What will it be today, Dem? A million munny? A sports car? A trip to the Caribbean?" the redhead asked mockingly, although most of it was expressed with exhaustion.

Demyx was all calm and positive as he relayed his information. "I know what you're trying to do, Axel. You're testing me. I can see it now." He nodded to himself, then continued. "You want to see just how far I'll go for you to play at the Talent Show."

Axel raised a brow, interested. "Oh, really? Smart guess, because you're partially right. So what's your highest offer?"

Demyx seemed extremely cool and composed up until that moment. Then he just seemed to breakdown, his words turning into splutters of embarrassment, his cheeks blossoming a jolly old St. Nick kind of red. "I'll do anything you want me to do for two months." he stammered, hand playing with his bag strap like a fidgeting child. "_Anything_."

Axel stared at him for a moment, face blank. His brain came up with no reaction to the insinuation behind the statement, because, for the love of everything sacred, this was _Demyx_ talking to him here. What kind of person in their right mind would think that he would be tempted by this pathetic form of seduction? Was this supposed to be a _bribe_? Oh, this was so hilarious and ironic on more levels than he could count.

Shaking his head, caught between laughter and humiliation on Demyx's behalf, Axel patted the blond on the shoulder. "I don't know what even made you _think_ I'd be persuaded by _that_. Although I've gotta hand it to you, Demyx. That's pretty much as high as any offer goes."

With that, Axel snapped his locker shut and walked away, seeming slightly confused and impressed at the same time.

As Demyx sat emotionlessly in his usual seat in the library during study period, Zexion looked up, torn between pity and exasperation.

"Demyx, despite being your best friend, I have say; I told you it wouldn't work."

A copy of _Ancient Civilizations _was chucked smack dab at Zexion's head.

- - -

_(October 4, 2008: Thursday)_

One would think that after several bouts of unwarranted and rather painful rejections, Demyx would call it a day and leave the Axel issue alone for good. A person could only take so much humiliation and pity from fellow students after all, and so by this point everyone pretty much expected Demyx to have given up already. But perseverance, no matter how strong, can be quite brainless and can contain as much will to live as a cockroach - no matter how many times you squash the darned things, somehow, someway, they come back from beyond the grave.

Axel was amongst the crowd of people who had thought Demyx to admit defeat so early in the game. He had to say that he was impressed at first, but c'mon. 'Isn't a bit too early for that?' he had asked himself. Throughout the whole day Demyx had yet to show with his latest and undoubtedly outrageous offer. Now that school was over, Axel was convinced that the blond had finally decided that he was way too hard to get and had the white flag raised. 'Pity,' he thought - Demyx had been quite entertaining.

The fact that Axel had dropped his guard only served to stress the reality of what he saw out in the field that afternoon. Together with his fellow track team members, the redhead had headed out for the usual Thursday practice, only to be greeted by a strange and shocking surprise. There on the field was the school marching band.

Without any given warning, they all started to play what sounded like a fucking _serenade_ for the whole neighbourhood to hear. Halfway through the performance, the track team members were honestly beginning to feel quite confused and perplexed, wondering why on earth the band was "practicing" on the field. At that point, Axel's face had turned completely white, knowing that this was no "practice." When the song ended, two little freshmen boys came running up from behind the band formation, a large, neon yellow banner in hand.

A round of barely concealed sniggers erupted from the track team when the boys revealed what was printed on the absurdly bright paper.

AXEL, PLAY GUITAR FOR ME. PLEASE.

In smaller print below the stupidly large font, Demyx had signed his own name in black magic marker.

The redhead, standing amidst his giggling teammates, scowled.

"NO."

- - -

_(October 5, 2008: Friday)_

Reviewing the events of the past week, Axel had to worry. Demyx's shenanigans had seemed harmless enough at first, but they were now escalating to a worrying level. It had started yesterday with the marching band serenade, which got people talking. It wasn't much, but at the time, Axel was feeling much too mortified to care. When he got to school the next morning, however, it was then that he started to worry.

Upon opening his locker, wondering what kind of inanity Demyx would come up with that day, Axel felt extremely torn between insane cackling and tears of resignation when out poured red roses from the miniscule space. A card seemed to have perched itself neatly at the top of the crimson pile at his feet.

By the time that the roses had made themselves public, it was way too late to cover it up, seeing as people were starting to stare, and Axel didn't want to look any more stupid than he already did.

Face red, he bent down to pick up the card, reading it with narrowed eyes.

_Roses are red,_

_Violets are blue,_

_I can't win the Talent Show,_

_If I don't have you._

Axel had to scowl at the ridiculous shade of pink the card was, but noticed that people not far away were beginning to point and giggle. He realized that they were looking at the card, and he turned it over. Axel grimaced.

'_From Demyx'_ was signed at the back in a revoltingly pink font colour, in a humiliatingly large font size.

- - -

_(Still October 5, unfortunately)_

The day didn't seem to go by fast enough, Axel thought mournfully. The morning had passed by bloodier than usual. At every twist and turn, Demyx seemed to have placed artillery after firepower after ignition. As he headed to Chemistry, some small freshman dressed in a flamboyantly gay Hawaiian outfit played Axel some stupid Hawaiian song on a ukulele, afterwards announcing for the entire school to hear, "PLEASE PLAY GUITAR FOR ME, AXEL. LOVE, DEMYX." On his way to History, Axel had taken full measure to avoid anyone whom Demyx might know and got to room 214 feeling as if the worst was over. Unfortunately, this time a group of freshman and junior girls came dancing into the room dressed like Greek nymphs, scattering lily petals everywhere. As they tossed a bouquet of white roses towards an unsuspecting, horrified redhead, they all formed a perfect line in front of the room, singing in perfect harmony, _"Would you please play thine instrument for Demyx?"_

Thinking that things couldn't get any worse, Axel's shock turned to anxiety and abject irritation upon the next period. His gym locker had apparently suffered a worse fate than the other, having been plastered with what seemed like more than a hundred _neon_ pink and purple cards that looked like they were attacked by smiles, hearts, and rainbows and were now bleeding suffocating love. On every single one, the question, 'Help me with the Talent Show, pretty please?' was written in sparkly, glitter pen. _Pink_, sparkly, glitter pen.

Feeling rather browbeaten by such inane yet deep-seated attempts at wooing, Axel wandered to his next class fully expecting the worst. As anticipated, a band now stood right outside the Italian classroom, looking even more out of place in their sombreros, banjos, and Spanish guitars - for god's _sake_, one of them had _maracas_.

After some Italian love song that Axel understood with brutal clarity, a girl with long brown curls handed him a card. Not really caring much at this point, Axel was already resigned to his fate of being the laughingstock of many more days to come. He really saw no harm in taking Demyx's usual abhorrent pink card and opening it. The redhead promptly changed his mind when an electronic recording from the damned thing began playing over and over: _Roses are red; violets are blue; I can't win the Talent Show; if I don't have you. _And no. Axel did _not _care if everyone in the goddamned hallway heard it.

His bribing had obviously evolved into vehement pestering. Worst of all, it occurred to Demyx to not actually be within the vicinity when his lackeys initiated attack, so Axel had no one to yell at, but could only stand there, looking thoroughly victimized. By now, the whole school, staff, students, and freak science experiments alike were now fully aware of Demyx's waging of one-sided war on the stubborn Axel. He was now pulling all the stops and heaven help anyone who tried to intervene.

Riku, Axel's now _ex_-best friend, had taken to avoiding the redhead, taking different routes to their classes throughout the morning. The silver-haired male was either trying not to laugh at Axel in his face out of self-preservation, or he would rather not be associated with him due to all the embarrassing incidents. Either way, the lack of support was making Axel feel positively homicidal.

By the time lunch rolled around, Axel was now fully paranoid. He practically had to run to the cafeteria, get food, and promptly disappeared right after that. No one had spotted him since. Then again, Demyx and Zexion were missing from the cafeteria, too. A couple of students speculated that the two had Axel tied up somewhere, torturing him with unimaginable methods of a depraved nature. One boy said that they had the redhead locked up in room 208, the haunted classroom, and wouldn't let him out unless he agreed to help out Demyx in the Talent Show. Now, those whisperings were very far from likely (were they?) and thus are all untrue, for after lunch Axel showed up, unharmed and safe yet still fearful, for Math.

After having gone through that class with no further disruptions of the humiliating kind, Axel was feeling slightly relieved but still irrationally edgy as he and Riku headed to study period. It was the only class that he had with Demyx, and Axel was going to make use of his time. His full intent was to beat the blond down with a full scale warning: He would threaten every limb attached to Demyx with bodily harm if the idiot didn't step down.

But upon entering the large library of THS, there was still no sign of either Demyx or Zexion. "Maybe they eloped," Riku joked with an amused chuckle, though Axel failed to see the humour in the joke. When looking for the blond for all of fifteen minutes failed to yield any profit, Axel decided to sit down next to Riku and actually try to focus on his education. This lasted for barely a few seconds when a loud song began to play via a boom box.

Yelling atop his lungs above the cheesy lyrics of _'Can't Help Falling In Love' _Axel shot out of his chair, waving his arms, screeching in an undignified manner, an unprecedented mental breakdown of epic proportions.

"FOR THE LOVE OF YOUR OWN MOTHER, DEMYX. I GIVE UP. I SURRENDER. JUST FUCKING _STOP_!"

Riku flinched away, shaken by the uncharacteristic and slightly crazed outburst from his usually level-headed friend. This was it. Demyx had persevered to the point of actually breaking Axel's sanity.

There was a momentary scramble for order on one side of the room, and Axel shakily turned his attention towards a couple of freshman students fluttering around a large, outdated radio. The song promptly lowered in volume, then a tiny freshman boy turned nervously towards Axel who was beginning to tremble - possibly due to trauma.

"Sorry!" he called out. "Didn't check the volume!"

When it was apparent that the small group of freshman students were working on some group project, and for some sadly hilarious and ironic reason were using an old love song in their studies, Axel's eye began to twitch to an extent so severe that Riku was fully convinced that he was going to have a seizure.

"Ah, Axel, you might want to sit down …" he muttered, urging the redhead to take a seat, patting his shoulder in an awkward gesture of comfort.

Full body now twitching and trembling, Axel nodded shakily, lips a thin line on his face. He sat down in his chair, shuddering and still twitching when a voice from ahead interrupted the dormant silence.

"Did you get all that, Zexion?"

Riku looked up, wincing when he saw Demyx and Zexion standing not too far away from their table. Apparently, self-preservation was still being taken into account, for there was more than two meters of distance between them.

Zexion carefully held his sleek, lacquered flip phone in his left hand, pressing a few buttons here and there. Then he turned the device so that the screen was facing Riku's slightly apprehensive expression, and Axel's defeated yet unnerved form. A video of Axel's mentally unsound outburst was playing on the small screen, his shriek of "FOR THE LOVE OF YOUR OWN MOTHER, DEMYX. I GIVE UP. I SURRENDER. JUST FUCKING _STOP_!" clearly distinct.

When the slate-haired genius clicked his phone shut, pocketing it, the four of them stared each other down. Clearly, sides had been taken in the small time it had taken for Demyx to wage this one-sided war. And the outcome of the confrontation was …

Axel slammed his head onto the table, muttering into the bleached rosewood: "White flag, Demyx. White flag. Now as a consolation of mercy, could you please fucking tell everyone that we're not gay for each other?"

- - -

_(rewinding events to a few days ago: September 29, 2008: Saturday)_

As the audience, you may be wondering somewhere deep in mind: 'Why did Demyx go through all those stupid measures just to snag Axel as a guitar player?'The answer to that, dear reader, would lead to the root, the very source of the entire plot altogether. However, the explanation as to why Demyx used such stupid methods could either be that he had taken enough of the rejection and snapped just as Axel had, or he was simply too pissed off to care whether his methods were sane or not. Either way, all the events were central to a trigger on an otherwise peaceful Saturday night within the basement of the Diluvia household. Everyone knows that a trigger requires some sort of activation. And the trigger preceding all the story's events was pulled on this night by the most unlikely person in the most unlikely manner.

"I heard about the strangest thing today," Zexion muttered after swallowing a small amount of Pepsi, following it with a helping of popcorn. "It's quite interesting, not to mention unexpected."

Demyx paused in his engrossed watching of a movie called 'Show Me The Money' to stare and blink at Zexion for five seconds before saying: "_Wow_. You think you know a person …"

Slate-grey eyes turned to look at Demyx sternly. "What, pray tell, is that supposed to mean?"

The blond shrugged, glancing at the large plasma screen as the main character dragged his drunk best friend towards another bar. "Gossip just doesn't seem _you_, Zex. I thought you didn't like knowing who goes out with who, or who slept with which person?"

Zexion rolled his eyes, reaching towards the glass coffee table for his can of Pepsi. "And you're right about that. Gossip doesn't become me, and I hate it when someone else's personal life is being forced into my head. I hate hearsay." He took a small sip, then continued. "I only took interest because it was genuinely shocking. Otherwise, I wouldn't care much."

Demyx whistled. "Do tell," he said, grinning as he shifted towards his best friend on the couch, bottle of rootbeer in hand.

The younger boy pursed his lips as he thought for a moment of how to word his explanation. Then Zexion nodded when he settled, momentarily noticing a startling array of lights on the television screen. "I'm quite sure that this information is correct because my source is reliable. I can't tell you who they are, though. Promise of confidentiality. Anyway … during freshman year, Roxas Caine supposedly had feelings for Axel. _Kashou_. _Our_ Axel. You can only imagine my-"

Unfortunately, it was merely seconds before this revelation when Demyx decided to take a large gulp of his rootbeer, and upon hearing the shocking news, spewed it all over in a disgusting spray of mixed carbonated beverage and spit. The soda went flying across aerial space in a liquid arch, settling on the coffee table, mostly on the beige carpet, and some flecks managed to make their way onto the television screen. Demyx himself, however, didn't seem to be aware of just how revolting this looked, and stared open-mouthed at Zexion, traces of rootbeer dripping slowly down his chin.

The slate-haired boy scowled violently, chucking a handful of paper towels at Demyx's face. "For the love of your own _mother_, that is disgusting, Demyx. I suggest you clean that all up before your dad gets home-"

"No way …" Demyx muttered, ignoring the paper towels in his lap, wiping the sticky liquid from his face with the back of his hand. "You're kidding, Zex."

The younger boy frowned in abject disapproval, snatching a forgotten paper towel and proceeded to wipe rootbeer from Demyx's face, then moved to clean the coffee table of the same mess. "When have I ever joked about these kinds of things, Dem? Besides, what struck me as shocking was that _Roxas_ above all people would even know that Axel exists. He's a smart boy, but apparently I was wrong. To pick Axel as an object of affection is just a great show of poor judge-"

"NO FLIPPING WAY."

Zexion opened his mouth, about to object to Demyx's rudeness, but wasn't fast enough. The blond began to wildly gesture with his hands, blue eyes wild with excitement. "That is so great! What a _coincidence_. Axel liked Roxas around the same time, too!"

Zexion blanched. _Oh, __**shi**__-_

"You better not tell Axel," he snapped. "If you do, so help me god, Demyx, I will hunt you down and drive a bread knife through your back. Best friend or not, this is extremely private information I just told you."

Demyx waved him off with a dismissive "Psh!" as he set down his rootbeer bottle on the coffee table - now free of rootbeer drops, thanks to Zexion's momentary bout of housewife-ishness. "No, no, no! Of course I won't tell. It's just so coincidental though!"

Zexion was about to agree with the heaviest sarcasm that he was capable of - and knowing that it was Zexion was a testament to the fact that _his_ sarcasm could outweigh an elephant - when he was forced to pause due to a look within Demyx's eyes. He froze. The last time he saw that twinkle within Demyx's blue orbs catastrophic things had occurred, and from that moment on, he had vowed to gauge out the blond's eyes if he even so much as imagined that twinkle there again. This time, however, Zexion was pretty sure that it wasn't just his imagination, and that Demyx really had terrible things brewing within that mind of his.

"Whatever you're thinking, Demyx," Zexion hissed, pointing a threatening finger, "you might as well stop it right now."

Zexion was obviously in a state of mental panic. All he wanted to do was possibly knock Demyx out cold and hope to heaven that it would be enough to get that miserable scheme out of his head. But all he had right now as a possible form of weaponry was his Pepsi can. Even if he chucked the thing at Demyx's head, Zexion doubted that even at the right trajectory it wouldn't be enough to give the idiot a concussion, taking his impossibly thick skull into consideration.

"Lighten up, would you? I'm not planning to kill anyone or anything." Demyx laughed at his own joke, and Zexion paled even more (even unintentionally, Demyx _could_ kill someone). "It's not as if I'm going to tell anyone about it. But you're not seeing what I'm really excited about." Demyx grinned, anticipation shining on his face. "Axel told me about Roxas during freshman year. And you know what? He sounded really serious about him! He liked him for a really long time, y'know. Unfortunately, Axel never did ask him out - I don't know why. This is our opportunity to make Axel really happy!"

Zexion, starting to feel seriously appalled, was about to interrupt, but couldn't on account of Demyx being on a roll.

"I'm friends with Roxas, too, so this should be really easy! He seems like a really nice guy - helped me with my English report once. So here's what I'm thinking: The Talent Show isn't too far away, and guess who's the best electric guitar player we know? That's right: Axel. And the song I want to perform needs a bass guitar, too. Roxas plays bass like a pro. Doesn't that work out well?

"All we have to do is get Axel and Roxas to play for me, and we'll work things out from there! I'm pretty sure Axel's still hung up on Roxas, and if Roxas still has feelings for Axel we'll find out. Easy enough, right? It's a win-win situation if everything goes well; I'll be able to win the title of Talent Champion 2008, and Axel and Roxas will get a chance to work things out."

Demyx turned to Zexion's impossibly blank expression with a bright, optimistic smile. "So, Zexion. Let's make this an interesting year."

Zexion didn't know why. Neither did he know how. But most of all, he couldn't comprehend why his brain wasn't protesting. Within those moments he should have been screaming at Demyx with all he was worth, "FOR THE LOVE OF YOUR OWN MOTHER, DEMYX. AXEL IS GOING TO HUNT YOU DOWN IF HE FINDS OUT, AND I DON'T WANT TO PICK UP PIECES OF YOU FROM THE FLOOR. _DON'T DO IT._"

Zexion, up until the day his hair turned white and he was yelling at the stupid neighbourhood kids to get off his lawn, would never know why he just sat there and kept his mouth closed.

And thus, the series of events subsequent to this highly ironic flashback was born. All because Zexion, for once in his life, didn't keep his mouth shut, and couldn't open it moments later.

- - -

_(Back to October 5, 2008: Dismissal)_

The highly unanticipated victory that Demyx had persevered to gain tasted _sweet_. Axel, for all his mulishness and arrogance, could break just like a normal person under the right pressure. Demyx had been correct to assume that if he wasn't in the vicinity at the moment of surprise attack, Axel wouldn't be able to vent. If he had no verbal and physical punching bag within reach, then his frustration, paranoia, and anger wouldn't be released - just enough to blow out of proportion at the right moment. The horrendous method of persuasion had worked, and Demyx was exhausted yet proud of his handiwork. Phase One of Operation: _Matchmaking!_ was a success. Phase Two, he deliberated, shouldn't be too hard at all.

Demyx sauntered optimistically into the third floor music room, looking amidst the mass of heads for the particular one that he was aiming for.

"_Axel, you know the funny thing that I noticed?"_

His eyes lit up when he saw an array of spiky blond hair.

"_What, Dem?"_

Demyx quickly strode over to where the alto saxophone players sat, mulling over what he was supposed to say.

"_You keep looking at Roxas. And … not just that. I can tell that there's something real deep to that look you always give him. Mind telling me?"_

"Hey, Roxas!" Demyx said, placing a hand on the younger blond's shoulder, making Roxas glance up from where he sat. "Listen, the teacher's gonna be late for a few minutes, so would you mind if we have a little chat? There's something important I wanna ask you."

Roxas grinned casually at Demyx as he removed his saxophone strap from his neck. "Sure, Demyx."

"_And here I was thinking you weren't paying attention. No offence, Demyx, but I didn't think you were _that_ perceptive."_

The two of them walked towards the back of the music room where it was a little more quiet, a ways off from all the chatter and random tunes that students played on their respective instruments. Demyx faced Roxas with a natural smile that hid what little uncertainty he felt.

"Well, I heard that you weren't trying out for the Talent Show, so I figured that I'd ask you for a little favour. You play bass, right?"

Roxas nodded, placing his hands in the front pockets of his grey sweater. "Yeah, I do. Remember that time when I played for the Peace Campaign?"

"_Oh, _yeah! How silly, I forgot. You were really awesome, by the way. So since you rock so much, do you think you could play for me at the Talent Show? It's nothing complicated, just a simple song and a couple of rehearsals here and there." Demyx waved his hand, trying to seem nonchalant, although he knew that his whole plan was staked on Roxas' answer. "So what do you say?"

"_Anyway … no point in lying about it now. I think …"_

Roxas smiled, shrugging with a small chuckle. "Sure, Demyx. No problem. Just tell me where we rehearse and what time."

"_I think I'm falling for Roxas."_

* * *

Agh. I'm terribly sorry if there are any horrid mistakes, grammar, spelling-wise. Please tell me about any of them if spotted, and I'll fix it up right away. Due to life being a total bitch, I can't edit much right now.

Anyway: Do you like the new version of _Carpe Diem_ better than the last one? Please review and tell me so changes and updates can be made ASAP! (And reviews make my day : )

(EDIT) The movie Demyx and Zexion were watching in the flashback, _Show Me The Money_, is a story recommendation! _Show Me The Money_ is by the lovely, wonderful, smut-tacular (I'm not kidding) **kurosora1984**. READ IT. YOU WILL HAVE NO REGRETS.


	3. Act II: A Penny For Your Thoughts

YES. YOU WONDERFUL PEOPLE. I'VE FINISHED ACT 2. WHAT. AND IT'S 10, 000 WORDS APPRX. YES, I'M COMPLETELY INSANE.

Heh, yes. Maybe I've made it way too long, you guys tell me. In case people are being informed for the first time, this is a rewrite, and some of the events are different, so it's up to you if you want to go back and reread the previous updates, though I think that could be asking too much from the readers who caught CD along its first stages. You guys give me your opinions! Pretty please?

Also, I'll probably be finishing this whole story (Act III, Act IV, Act V, and Afterword, also in Zexion's POV) by the end of this year, hopefully towards mid-December. I promise to give you guys my best, always! Much love to those who reviewed! I appreciate all the encouraging praise (insert hugs). And also, special mention goes to **Duchess Elda** who guessed first on the chapter title(s) as the lyrics to Fall Out Boy's _Don't You Know Who I Think I Am _(which is going to be the song Demyx and his makeshift band are going to perform!). YOU WIN TEN INTERNETS, DEAR. A-and also, my love and undying affection (insert heart). Onto the story!

* * *

Carpe Diem

_Seize the day. In my words, "Victory before insanity." That's what Zexion thought when Demyx had the brilliant idea to set Axel up with Roxas Caine._

- - -

_Act II: A Penny For Your Thoughts_

_(September 1, 2007)_

_Freshman Year, Trinity High School, Hollow Bastion_

It was a nice afternoon on the first day of school for the freshman students of Trinity High School. The first day of high school should have been hectic, wearisome, and stressful, but most found the ambience of the large, gothic style buildings to be quite warm and welcoming. Since there wasn't to be too much activity considering the day was a sort of introduction to all students, old and new, everyone just breezed through their assigned classes, where the teacher's talked thoroughly about their courses, expectations, etc. It was around one o'clock in the afternoon, and the bell had just rung to signal that fourth period was about to begin. It was the kind of slow tolling that echoed out onto the campus grounds, conveying a tender baritone that, as it rung, gave you a feeling of warmth. Almost like church bells in a way.

Axel Kashou, with his longtime friend Riku St. Mark, was heading towards room 201 for Literature. The schedule sheet said that their Literature class was supposedly held at room 304 on a regular basis, but some repairs were being done, so they had been reassigned to 201, the classroom used by the freshman Honours Literature class. No doubt they were going to run into Zexion, Lord Valedictorian, because their friend had taken honours for all his classes. Axel was smart and could have gone for honours, too, as well as Riku, but they had other commitments, and taking a class that guaranteed them a good failing streak wasn't exactly a wise choice.

Taking a flight of steps down to the second floor, the two incredibly tall freshman students made their way down the wide corridor to the right of the stairwell. The room numbers hung adjacent to the classroom doors in black embossed numbers.

"Well, I don't see Zexion," Riku muttered, weaving through a group of junior girls, who glanced over their shoulders at Axel and Riku, giggling as they hurried to their own class. Axel raised his brows as he observed them out of the corner of his eye. They were barely here a day and already the women were taking notice. Not a bad record, but he didn't mention it to Riku. No doubt the silver-haired boy had noticed already, probably before Axel himself did.

"You know him," Axel replied, bumping shoulders with a smaller freshman as they passed room 203, 201 being all the way down the corridor. "Zexion probably went to his next class already. I think he has Chemistry."

Riku gave Axel a look of surprise. "Chemistry? But he's only a freshman. Shouldn't he be taking General Science like the rest of us?"

Axel rolled his eyes and gave his friend a deadpan look. "It's Zexion, for god's sake. Naturally the school's going to tolerate spoiling him a little. He got a hundred percent on the entrance exam - they're not going to refuse him from a class that he's obviously going to pass better than most of the seniors' averages combined."

Riku snorted as if to chastise himself for forgetting just how much of a genius Zexion Consilium was. "Right-o. It almost slipped my mind how big his head actually is."

The two shared a chuckle, knowing the statement went in more than two directions.

They weaved through the crowd of students, and in a couple of moments they reached the doors to room 201. Axel noticed that there were people blocking the doorway, and there was no other way to get inside unless they pushed through.

"Hey, c'mon," Riku said under his breath, trying to find any way he could get through the blockage without hurting anybody. He attempted squeezing in between two people, who turned out to be girls, and just like that he was caught in the middle of the barricade as the females - Axel noticed that they were seniors - endeavoured a conversation with him. They were soon joined by several others, which made Riku's popularity even more transparent - and annoying. Also at this point, access to room 201's doors was far from possible. There were just too many girls (Where did they come from, anyway?).

Deciding to abandon S.S. Civility, Axel grabbed Riku by the arm as the boy tried to answer a rather awkward question asked by one of the women. Shoving and pushing through the stagnant throng of people, he immediately decided that his actions were very justified, if someone happened to ask him about it. If the teacher received complaints that Axel was abusing his fellow students with teeny little shoves here and there, it was a simple matter of replying, "Well, Mr. Some Such Name, they weren't moving. It was like bulldozing through the Great Wall, so what choice did I have? I could _never_ forgive myself for being late to a class on the first day."

Axel could lie easily through his teeth, but really, that wasn't entirely untrue. If people didn't get out of the way as soon as possible, there was no guarantee that his patience was going to hold.

As he made his way inside the classroom, nearly halfway through the protesting crowd, one senior boy dared to comment as he was hit in the chest by a random elbow.

"Watch it, kid!" he yelled, glaring in annoyance at Axel.

The redhead turned around, raising a brow sardonically at the brave soul who just spoke to him. "If you don't want to get hit, then I suggest you and your little posse haul ass before I personally start kicking some out."

There were a couple of oooohs, but Axel didn't stop to see the reaction of whoever-he-was and continued to demolish his way into the room. Less people commented this time after the verbal backlash the first protestor had received, but there were still a few who muttered impolite comments to themselves.

"Ah, just a sec- Ow, hey!"

Someone smaller bumped into Axel, and the redhead stumbled a little because of the unexpected force, sending Riku sprawling backwards, but he was then fortunately caught by a couple of his new female admirers. The redhead scowled, straightening himself, ready to glare at whoever it was that yet again deterred him from getting to class. Some very harsh and biting words were on the tip of his tongue, and he was just about ready to vent, having had quite enough of people getting in the way. He looked up, and Axel honestly thought for a second that someone shot him in the foot.

Standing right in front of him was … well, he didn't know who it was, but the blond was definitely something. He couldn't put a finger on it, knowing that he had seen more beautiful people before in his life. A couple of models made a pass on him while he and his friends were walking by a runway at the mall a few weeks ago. They were all hot, and Demyx even got a few phone numbers at Axel's expense, but none of them hit him in the gut like this one did. His gaze took in moderately light-tan skin, an array of spiked blond hair, and most shocking of all the features were a pair of blue eyes. They were the exact same colour of the sky - or the ocean. He couldn't tell.

Axel didn't know why. The kid looked quite normal to him, but something about those eyes knocked the breath clear out of his lungs. And the painful feeling he had gotten in his foot was still there. Huh. Maybe he'd actually been struck by lightning, because this felt slightly unreal.

It was merely moments after that when Axel realized that the blond angel that was soon to star in all his erotic dreams had just dropped a hard bound copy of _A History of the World _on his right foot when they had collided. Which explained why the bullet-through-my-fourth-metatarsal-bone feeling wasn't leaving him alone.

"OH, _SON OF A BITCH_."

That was when Axel Kashou first bumped into Roxas Caine.

Literally.

* * *

_(October 8, 2008: Monday)_

Wincing at the recollection of a humiliating yet oddly fond memory, Axel frowned, resting his cheek against his hand. They were supposed to be doing something for Health today, but the teacher had yet to show in his own classroom. And so the occupants of room 207 were scattered about the desks and chairs, chattering away with one another.

Axel pursed his lips, caught in a sentiment that felt like boredom, or maybe a hint of curiosity mingled with irritation. When he had "bumped" into Roxas the first time it had been like dying then getting a glimpse of heaven, only to plummet to the legions of hell and beyond. That textbook of his had been abnormally heavy, and had resulted in a bruise on Axel's right foot. Although, in some hilariously ironic fashion, Axel had to thank the cruel fates for injuring him on an otherwise perfect day. Roxas had apologized a multitude of times for the mishap, stricken by panic and unwarranted guilt, and Axel had told him in between gritted teeth that he was okay, and that the swelling would subside in a couple of weeks (if it ever did subside at all, he had thought in pain). That pathetic excuse of a conversation was the first of very few for the two of them, all because of Roxas' book. But in a way, Axel was grateful for the accursed thing. If it didn't make the mistake of landing on his foot, Axel had no doubt in mind that without pain to bring him to reality, he would have proposed to Roxas right then and there. And boy would that have been embarrassing.

But still, part of him whined mournfully. Maybe if he _did_ propose to Roxas, there could have been a chance - even 0.0001 percent in the very least - that he could have said yes. And if his fantasy did in fact come true and he and Roxas got married and lived a happily ever after, Axel wouldn't be sitting in a desk more than a year after it all started, wondering about what could have happened.

_A year's worth of unrequited adoration_, he thought darkly, cursing the blue skies right outside the classroom windows. _How pathetic. _

Of course, Axel acknowledged the fact that there was no one else to blame but himself. In that one-year span of time, in not one second did he attempt to win Roxas over. Call him a dickless coward if you will, but at the time Axel seemed way too busy thinking things like "He's way too perfect," "I wonder if he notices me at all?" or even, "What would Roxas look like in a sun dress?"

Ah, the woes of a hormone-driven teenage mind.

Feeling for no good reason as if the world was conspiring for his demise, Axel glowered down at the school grounds from the classroom windows. He could never count the times wherein he'd fantasized about Roxas. He couldn't number how many times he had turned to stare at the boy only to look away for dread of being caught. Axel couldn't even begin to add up how many times the mere sight of Roxas brightened his day. _But_ he could count how many conversations they'd had together on one hand. It wasn't exactly what one would call balanced. In fact, it was so frustrating to the point of being unhealthy.

Conversation Number One had occurred when they had met, and it wasn't very fond to recall.

"Oh, GOD! I'm sorry! I swear, I didn't mean it, I was just passing by - god, what am I _saying_? Are you okay? Are you bleeding? Do you need to go to the clinic?" Roxas had half shouted in a fluster of panic.

Axel gritted his teeth, trying to hide the excruciating pain with a smile. Unfortunately, the grin only came out as an awkward attempt at flexing his cheek muscles and the redhead didn't look much happier than a child going to the dentist. "No … s'okay. Don't worry. I can-" Grunt. "Handle this."

It wasn't very pretty.

And while Roxas did help him to the nurse's office, _Riku_ just so happened to be there as well. And how was Axel to tell the blond angel just how much of a godsend he really was when his best friend was oh so conveniently located within the vicinity? Within earshot? The ass wouldn't let him live it down if he started singing sonnets because of this one kid.

And thus, the following week Conversation Number Two happened. Axel was still in the phase of recovering from his foot bruise, and he could walk without limping now. By that time, he had learned as much as he could about Roxas without being too obvious. He looked like a kid because he was younger than Axel by a year. He was only in high school because of advanced placement, and he took honours with Zexion. At that discovery, Axel began cursing his fate. He _knew _he should have taken honours.

He had been venting about this one day in study period, with Demyx as his only semblance of support because Riku had been gallivanting elsewhere at the time.

"I _should_ have taken the same classes …" he mourned, glaring down at his unopened textbook. "My mother told me to. And I didn't listen."

Demyx had patted his shoulder with genuine concern. By that time, he already knew of Axel's impossible infatuation with Roxas, and thus was the one and only confidante on the matter. He said, "Cheer up! You could always just say hi in the hallways. I've talked to him a couple of times, and he seems really nice!"

Axel gave Demyx a deadpan look. "You don't know me at all, do you?" Sighing and rubbing the back of his neck, the redhead considered calming down. "I hate Zexion. No offence meant since you're his best friend, but I really fuckin' hate him."

"Why's that? Zexion seems pretty nice."

Axel had stiffened, recognizing the voice in an instant. He had turned around slowly to see Roxas standing behind him and Demyx, innocently holding a few sheets of paper in his hand, unaware of the topic of conversation a couple of seconds before he arrived.

The redhead feigned casualness, despite the irrational urge to leap from his chair and smother Roxas with a loving hug. "Hey, it's you again. Come to drop another book on my other foot this time?" he spoke, his cocky grin suggesting that he was only joking.

The blond blushed, then laughed nervously. "Yeah … I'm still really sorry about that. Feeling better?"

Axel smiled widely. "Much better." _Now that you're here_, he would have added, but that would have sent the boy running for the hills.

"Ah, well, that'll help me sleep at night. Anyway, I did ask why you hate Zexion. He seems really nice."

Axel shrugged. _Because he's in every single one of your classes, a privilege that I would kill for?_ Deciding not to voice the truth, the redhead simply vied for a more believable lie. "Well, I don't exactly hate him - he's one of my best buddies. It's just that he got that sound system that I really wanted before I did."

Roxas laughed, making Axel's stomach leap a couple of times. "Ah, I see. Let me congratulate him later, then. As for you, good luck on that. Axel, right?"

His heart started doing jumping jacks. "Gee, how'd you guess?" he asked, smirking. "Yeah, I'm Axel. And you're Roxas - the person whom I'll always remember as the one who tried to maim my foot."

Smiling good naturedly, Roxas had crossed his arms over his chest. "Never gonna let that one go, will you?"

Axel had chanced a wink at him. "As long as my foot tingles in recollection every time I see you."

Conversation Number Two was definitely an improvement compared to Conversation Number One. Unfortunately after that blissful exchange at the library, the chaotic nature of high school made its actual appearance. September rolled by, then October, and before Axel knew it January had arrived without so much as a third encounter with Roxas. Even if Axel wasn't in the honours classes, the amount of work, reports, projects, and tests was incredibly blistering, so he could only surmise how busy it was for Roxas. Eventually, March made its way around the block, and Axel was beginning to feel extremely deprived of his blond angel. Not that Roxas belonged to him to begin with, but things were easier if Axel dreamed (just a _little_).

It was towards the end of soccer season, somewhere between April and June when Conversation Number Three happened. Axel had been waiting for a couple of friends outside the locker rooms after their school had won the boys' soccer championship. Zexion was with him at the time, but the two didn't talk much aside from the occasional "So … how was that Math test yesterday?" and, "Oh … yeah, it was good. Pretty easy." Which would be followed by, "… I see."

Zexion wasn't much of a talker, not unless Demyx was with him, but even then he still didn't interact much with other people. Axel didn't mind so much, because at the time he was way too excited to even pay attention to anything else. This could have been because of Trinity's consecutive victory over their rival school, Zantetsuken. Or maybe because there was going to be free pizza for the team afterwards, and he and the other tag-alongs would get shares. But no. It was because Roxas was on the soccer team and in less than five minutes he would be running out of the locker rooms into Axel's awaiting embrace.

Or maybe that had just been him.

When the team headed towards their awaiting crew of friends and supporters, cheering and friendly banter erupted in the hallway. Axel paid the chatter no mind, because he immediately spotted Roxas amidst the group. He casually conversed with other people, slowly and subtly making his way over to the blond.

Once within unsuspicious vicinity of the boy, Axel placed a hand on his shoulder in a gesture of congratulations (and also as a pathetic and subtle excuse to touch Roxas). "Hey there, kiddo. Good game back there," he said with his confident grin.

Roxas looked up at Axel and beamed in recognition. "Oh, you were watching? Heh, thanks. Did you see the goal I made in the second half?"

Axel laughed in genuine amusement, having witnessed the epic moment the blond was talking about. "How can I forget? You went skidding across the grass like a broken go-cart."

"Not to mention I knocked five other guys down after that," beamed Roxas.

Axel smirked. "Three out of those five were your team mates though. And last I recall, this was soccer, not football."

"Hey, mistakes happen," Roxas said in fake indignation, still smiling.

As the two walked side by side amongst their small crowd of friends, Roxas adjusted his hold on his duffel bag, looking up at Axel with bright amusement in his sky-blue eyes. "Am I forgiven yet for 'attempted mutilation' of your foot?" he asked, wide grin an indication mirth.

Axel hummed to himself for a moment, pretending to take this into consideration as he put a hand to his chin. "Well … let me think. It's been, what, eight months since then? And my right foot _still _tingles every time you're near - trauma, I think. Should I forgive you just yet? Hmm, maybe I shouldn't …"

Roxas mock-frowned as he gestured towards his heart. "You hit right here. I'm awfully wounded. However am I going to sleep at night these days knowing that you don't have it in your heart to forgive and forget?"

The redhead grinned down at the blond. "Aw, what the heck? If you put it that way, I'd feel bad. Don't want our Rox suffering sleep deprivation because he's too guilty to get some shut-eye, now do we?"

Axel had ruffled Roxas' hair at that, and the blond had protested rather half-heartedly, but again like most of their other (two) conversations, Number Three ended quite shortly right after it began. Roxas was dragged away by his posse and his team mates, and Axel was pulled away by his own crowd, and even if the two groups did stay with each other, Axel couldn't find seconds to spare for a private conversation as they headed to the downtown mall.

And so freshman year came and went, and Axel had only three decent conversations to remember Roxas by. When junior year started, they didn't so much as see each other within the fleeting days. Presently, Axel sat in his seat by the classroom window, awaiting the arrival of their occasionally late Health teacher. In his boredom, he began rating his conversations with Roxas in his head.

My Conversations With Roxas On A Scale Of 1 to 100

Conversation Number One: -80

Conversation Number Two: 100.999999

Conversation Number Three: Googolplex.

Now that didn't really make much sense, since none of the ratings corresponded well with the scale he had decided on.

Axel shrugged to himself, not finding the heart to care. Glancing out the window, he spotted a group of boys out on the field for gym class. He observed them idly, not really caring since there wasn't much to do in the first place, but his heart leapt a couple of inches than what was considered healthy when he spotted a familiar array of blond hair.

It was Roxas' gym class.

Confused for a moment, Axel turned to look towards Zexion who was seated with Demyx not too far away, wondering why _he_ wasn't out there with the boy of Axel's dreams, then realized that after freshman year, the genius didn't take gym anymore. Returning his attention to the now pleasant view below, Axel watched intently as the boys began to do stretching exercises. His breath hitched when Roxas bent down to touch his toes, giving the redhead an excellent view of his-

Axel slapped himself mentally, feeling like a pervert.

Completely unaware of Axel's mental battle of "To look or not to look? _That_ is the problem," Zexion and Demyx conversed with each other about their secret and potentially dangerous scheme.

"So you got both Axel and Roxas to agree. What of it now?" Zexion asked, obviously more than sceptical and apprehensive towards this whole ordeal.

Demyx put a finger to his lips, hissing. "Shh! We don't use their names if you want all of this to stay secret!" the blond scolded, giving Zexion the offending feeling that somehow this all pointed back to him (which it did).

The shorter boy frowned sternly and unhappily at Demyx as he leaned his hip against Demyx's desk. "What, pray tell, do we use in place of names, then?" he asked as Demyx lounged in his chair.

"Well, I decided to call Axel His Highness," Demyx chuckled giddily to himself, "you know, that nickname we gave him a _long_ time ago when he used to get really mad? Anyway, you-know-who's code name is Ladylove."

There was a pause.

"Demyx, that is _demeaning_ to his masculinity. I feel sorry for the poor boy …"

The blond began to wave his hands around as he explained, obviously delighted about the story behind his absurd code names. "No, no! It's just because this reminded me of that one time I watched a movie, and it was kinda freakishly similar, so I decided that, 'Hey, since this is all so similar to that movie, maybe I should-"

Zexion clamped a hand over Demyx's mouth, his face deadpan. "Forget I said anything. Just … forget it." Rubbing his temples as he withdrew his appendage, the slate-haired boy mulled over the situation. "Your ridiculous nickname-giving aside, won't it be way too obvious once rehearsals start? Axel's not stu-"

"Code names!" Demyx chimed in a whisper.

A vein pulsed on Zexion's head. "_No_."

"But Zexion … do you know how long it took me to think of them?" Puppy-dog eyes.

Crap. The vein throbbed violently, a prominent blue on Zexion's pale skin.

He sighed in resignation. "Fine. His Highness isn't stupid. He's going to figure it out in moments flat." Zexion paused, giving Demyx a grim look. "And he knows where you live. That's not a good thing."

Demyx dismissed the ominous statement with a wave of his hand, shrugging. "He told me last year that he's over Ladylove-" Zexion _had _to wince, "-but it was so obvious that he was lying. I pretended to play along just because, and His Highness already thinks that I'm not that smart. I'll just say, 'Oh, he's the best bass guitar player I know-' which is true, 'and I thought you were over him now?' It's easy, Zexion! This is for His Highness' own good, whether he likes it in the beginning or not."

Zexion grimaced. _Demyx, are you aware of just how evil you can be sometimes?_

Deciding that the answer had to be a no, Zexion knew better than to voice the question. It would raise others that he would rather not deal with.

"So, phase one and two are a go," Zexion started, sitting on Demyx's desk, arms crossed. "Mind explaining phase three again?"

Demyx grinned widely. "Phase three starts during lunch. Here's the plan, just to be sure …"

* * *

_(still October 8, 2008: Lunch)_

Zexion blinked. He tried blinking again, but it didn't do any good. A couple of times more didn't provide any reprieve from the disbelieving sight. He rubbed at his grey eyes, but that didn't improve his vision any better. What he saw was actually real, and he couldn't quite find it in him to believe it. Demyx Diluvia, the most air headed person he was associated to, could actually create a behavioural observation and, despite the inanity, it provided great detail and supporting evidence of Demyx's subject matter.

Lunch had started out pretty normal for the most part, Zexion following Demyx here and there as he socialized with most of the people in the room, greeting even those he wasn't acquainted with. Demyx had a lot of friends, Zexion was reminded. And for a moment, he had to wonder why, out of the vast crowd, did he acquire the coveted role of best friend for this idiot? He really had to wonder. Really.

Once the two of them reached their usual table with their other junior friends, Demyx greeted them all with his usually cheery, "Hey, guys! How's life?"

Axel and Riku were already seated in their usual spots, right across Demyx and Zexion. Riku appeared to be showing Axel a note, and Zexion caught a glimpse of the sheet. It seemed to have suffered the dreaded fate of being studded with pink and blue hearts in random places. The slate-haired boy eyed a particularly offensive spelling error, and looked at Riku and Axel above his lunch of rice, teriyaki chicken, and a small salad. The two were barely controlling their sniggers and chuckles as they read the letter to themselves.

When they finished, the two burst out laughing, wiping tears away from their eyes. Riku waved the sheet in front of Zexion's face, explaining in between guffaws, "Gippal … got this note from … girl who's crushing on him. It's so deranged."

At that, Axel nearly fell out of his seat, clutching at his sides from too much laughter.

Zexion had looked over the note then passed it on to other curious people at their table, unable to bear such abuse of grammar and punctuation. It was at this point when everyone was too busy laughing when Demyx caught Zexion's attention.

"You say you're doubtful about our whole plan," the blond asked, smug grin set in place. "Well, I have solid proof, Zexion Consilium, that it has a fighting chance of working." With that, Demyx pulled out a folded piece of paper, holding it up to Zexion's face. "It all comes down to this observation. Mark my words, everything there is as accurate as a calculator."

Wary about Demyx's calculator analogy, Zexion nevertheless opened the immaculately neat sheet, and began to read. Which leads us to his current state of disbelief.

_Monday, October 1st _

_We are currently seated by each other in Literature, and I notice that His Highness is quite unhappy with me. I think this is due to the fact that back in History, someone brave had dared to comment on his Ladylove. Quote: __"__He__'__s seriously cute and has the nicest piece of ass on this side of the planet. I__'__d go out with him in a heartbeat.__"_

_I assure you, Dear Reader, that I was not involved with the verbal beat-down that followed, courtesy of His Highness. Then again, it may or may not have been my fault that the aforementioned comment had let slip in the first place. As long as this doesn't reach His Highness__'__ ears, then I__'__m good. _

_Tuesday, October 2nd_

_Ladylove just so happened to pass by in the hallway, surrounded by his entourage of loyal associates. Which may or may not have caused His Highness to slam into both lockers 305 and 306, and somehow 310. _

_Wednesday, October 3rd _

Another_ brave sir comments on Ladylove today, Dear Reader! I shall not quote here, however, because the content was surprisingly graphic and explicit. _

_Which would explain why the poor fellow found himself accidentally in the girls__'__ locker room right after swim practice. _

_I may or may not have been involved with what was said._

_Thursday, October 4th _

_It has come to my attention that Ladylove has joined the Sports Teams Management Committee. I may or may not have implied to His Highness that morning that he walk by the field after track. Sure enough, every team manager is present on the field. Unfortunately, so is the football team. Which only succeeded in landing a hit to His Highness__'__ face from a _very_ bad throw. What can only be worse than an actual football practice is football tryouts. _

_How His Highness couldn't manage to dodge a throw worthy of Sports__'__ Most _Un_wanted_,_ is beyond me. Maybe because of certain __"__distractions__"__ perhaps __…__?_

_Friday, October 5th _

_Today, His Highness has had a terrible accident, which landed him in the school clinic, with half a pack of cotton shoved up his nose from severe bleeding. Perhaps because we caught a glimpse of the boys__'__ swim team? Ah, I see. Because Lady Love is now on said swim team. _

Zexion had only been vaguely aware of Axel's arbitrary mishaps of last week, having been busy with Demyx's constant attempts at trying to drive the idiot insane. The fact that his best friend had been juggling this experiment along with driving Axel into a corner was beyond him. Demyx wasn't the smart type … or was he?

Zexion shuddered at mere thought of what went on in that head of his.

Discreetly handing Demyx back the sheet, Zexion gave him a weary, disbelieving stare. "And … this is your proof that … His Highness most certainly is still hung up over Ladylove?"

Demyx grinned widely. "Fo sho."

Zexion couldn't resist the urge to smack his forehead. Gangster was not Demyx. It just wasn't. In a universe where all underwear flew across the sky in Teletubbies formation, yes, most likely. But not on sane Earth soil, no.

Before he could tell him this for future reference, however, Demyx had already turned his attention elsewhere. The blond was trying to catch Axel's attention, who was busy still laughing at the love letter Gippal had received.

"And, and this one part says," he said giddily, "_Oh, Gippal, I don't want you. I NEED you._ That's so hilarious!" In response, the occupants of the table burst into guffaws. Riku fell off his seat.

Gippal, at the very end of the table, scowled, pocketing the now abused love note that he had received from a freshman girl who was obsessed with him. "It's actually pretty scary you guys. Not flattering at all," he said, mouth set in a grim line.

Zexion rolled his eyes at the childishness of his so called friends, turning his attention to Demyx who was still trying to get Axel to look at him. "Axel, Axel, Axel. _Axel. _Axe-"

"What, Demyx?" the redhead asked, not so much irritated as a tiny bit annoyed.

Demyx beamed brightly. "Don't forget rehearsals later in room 408."

Axel gave him a cheerful smile of his own. "Oh, thanks for reminding me for the thousandth time, Demyx. Next time my Alzheimer's kicks in, I'll appreciate it."

Riku got up from the floor, chuckling as he sat next to Axel. "Ouch, Dem. You just got dissed."

The blond stuck his tongue out at the two across the table, calling them none too flattering names. Zexion rolled his eyes. Ah, the woes of teenage life.

* * *

Axel, quite honestly, didn't want to be annoyed at Demyx. He could understand that the incidents of last week were partially his fault because, hey, he could tell when he was being an ass. He regretted not agreeing to Demyx earlier on when the damage could have been salvageable. He had told Demyx this, and that was as close as Axel got to an actual apology. After all, he wasn't the only one to blame for the fact that half the school population thought that the two of them were having some sort of comical love affair. The excitement about that still hadn't died down, and Axel still felt like slamming his head against a wall repeatedly every time he opened his locker. It _still_ smelled like roses.

Now was the day for the first of many rehearsals for the talent show. Demyx hadn't explained in clear detail just what exactly they were going to be doing, except that Axel had to play a song accompanied by the rest of a band, and Demyx was going to enter the show as a singer. Axel's backing vocals and the accompanying instruments were only there to serve as an image boost. It was so like Demyx to be obsessive about details.

Axel, in some crazy way, understood Demyx's fixation to win that darned contest. Marluxia Belgravia, a senior, had always been Demyx's rival in all things performing arts. The two were always at each other's throats when it came to these kinds of things, ever since Marluxia received the role of Lysander in their sixth grade play, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Demyx had been the understudy, and he never could find it in his usually jovial heart to forgive Marluxia for that intentional blow. Axel had heard the usually passive Demyx spew none too gentle words about the flamboyant senior, and in all honesty, Axel didn't like him either.

A prime reason being that Marluxia's close gal pal, Larxene, had once sought him out as an object of affection. The ordeal had been hell, and Axel had emerged both victim and victor with too many mental scars to count. Now he and the blonde were in a lasting hate relationship that was surely mutual on both sides.

Demyx had now gone on ahead to room 408 to set up their equipment, check the sheet music, some such things. He had told Axel to follow as soon as he finished his lunch, and Axel saw no reason to be late and prolong the misery. At least if he was on time to their first rehearsal, Demyx probably wouldn't give him as much grief as opposed to if he was tardy.

Finishing up his lunch and stealing a sip of Pepsi from Zexion's soda can, the redhead disposed of his garbage properly before heading towards the main stairwell of THS. He knew the fastest route to room 408, and that was if he took the west stairwell up until the fourth floor. The hallways were quiet at this time of day, being that majority of students were all in the lunchroom. Axel was grateful for the silence, appreciating how his shoes thumped dully against the stone steps. He was well on his way to the third floor - only four more steps - when he caught sight of someone atop the landing. His heart stopped beating for a fraction of a second before speeding up to a marathon-worthy pace.

It was Roxas.

Axel almost lost his footing, and if he had it was a sure tumble down that stairwell, and it would not only be painful but horribly embarrassing.

Reigning decent control over his equilibrium, he glanced up, meeting the gaze of blue eyes. He ran a mental check on himself, making sure that he was presentable, and that his face wasn't _too_ truthful in showing that, yes, he was beyond happy that this blessed fate had been bestowed on him on this fine day. And he was more grateful that his mouth in question was devoid of the irrational impulse to propose marriage right then and there.

Smiling casually, he continued up the stairs, noticing that Roxas was smiling in return, greeting him, "Hi, Axel. Wasn't expecting to see you here."

The redhead stopped when he was right in front of the blond, shrugging. He had to try his utmost to remain calm and refrain from unnecessary comments about Roxas, like how he looked wonderful in the lighting, how his hair seemed so golden, that he looked like an angel sent from the heavens, anything to that embarrassing extent. He would bite off his own tongue if he had to.

"Well, I wasn't expecting you either," he said, putting his hands inside his sweater pockets (most likely an attempt to keep himself from fidgeting). "Actually, I wasn't expecting to see anyone, really. What brings you here?"

Roxas shrugged, and the two fell in step side by side as they made their way to the fourth floor. "I have this thing with a friend. You?"

"Same I guess." Axel had to restrain a nervous chuckle. Their exchange sounded so absurdly normal, and yet in some ironic way he preferred it over anything else. "Anyway, what have you been up to these days? It seems like I haven't seen you in a while." Their ascent up the stairs seemed unusually slow.

"Well," Roxas began, "there isn't much that's new. Same old, same old, I guess. Though it looks like you have your share of news to handle." And by this, they both knew, Roxas meant the fiasco of last week that had resulted in the humiliating conclusion that Axel and Demyx were an (odd) item.

Axel turned red, feeling the heat creep past his ears. "Well …" he muttered, honestly contemplating the temptation of throwing Demyx off the highest point of the school building. "That was a complete misunderstanding," he stated flippantly, trying to save his maimed dignity. "Demyx was just making complete asses out of the both of us - I was dragged into the whole thing. Whatever you're hearing these days is a complete lie."

He turned to look at Roxas and was surprised to see the blond grinning in a manner that could have been pitying or amused. Either way, it made Axel die a little inside.

"I was just kidding, Axel," Roxas laughed, patting the redhead consolingly on the arm. "Almost everyone knows what really happened, and it's only a running joke that you guys are dating each other." Axel felt the rest of him crumble to pathetic bits. "No one actually thinks it's true, you know."

Feeling reassured, if slightly mortified, Axel let out an inaudible breath that he had been holding. So people thought it was a joke. Well if that wasn't a saving grace, he didn't know what was. Be that as it may, joke or no joke, he would rather not have his object of affection thinking he was totally, utterly gay for one of his best friends. It just wasn't an image that he promoted, least of all within Roxas' eyes. Oh, those wonderful blue eyes.

Shaking himself to a state that was as close to calm as he could go, Axel laughed somewhat sheepishly, stopping his hands from fidgeting. "Well that's a relief," he said, glancing slightly at Roxas. "I really don't want certain people to get the wrong idea." _Mainly you, you clueless little angel._

"Why's that?" Roxas asked, lips branching out into a grin. "In all honesty, Demyx isn't so bad. He's kind of cool, if in an odd way."

Axel's eye twitched slightly, some sort of involuntary reaction to god knew what - maybe the fact that his lovely Roxas, _his_ _Roxas_, was actually suggesting that he go out with Demyx Diluvia, one of the biggest idiots on the planet. Who also happened to feel like his surrogate brother, more often that not.

He snorted, looking at Roxas with partial disbelief. "Are you kidding me, Rox? That would be incest even if I think about it. Demyx is like my little brother, and I don't have those kinds of interests."

Roxas looked at him, blue eyes widening slightly. "Oh, so you're _not_ into guys at all?"

Axel nearly tripped down the stairs, but only managed to raise his brows as high as they would go (breaking his bones didn't seem an appropriate response to that question at _all_). "Well … I'm bisexual, if that's what you're wondering," he said honestly, rubbing the back of his neck, wondering if this was such an appropriate topic to be discussing with a person he'd been pining after for such a long amount of time. Deciding to abandon that query for a more convenient occasion, Axel added, "And you know, even if I was completely and totally gay - which I'm not - Demyx wouldn't be on top of my wanted list, if you know what I mean."

Roxas laughed, staring at him with amusement as they continued their trek up the stairs. "Oh? And who would be on top of your list?"

Feeling slightly overconfident, the redhead winked at the blond flirtatiously. "You?" He made it sound like a joke, but at least he wasn't lying. Though parts of Axel were torn in a war on whether or not he wanted Roxas to catch onto the drift at all.

The blond laughed, and Axel decided that it was safe to assume that he had taken it as a joke.

"Well, considering that I'm also bisexual," Roxas began, "doesn't that work out fine?"

This time, Axel did trip over his own feet.

Or he wish he had.

Casually, he laughed alongside Roxas, as if this was all some sort of casual banter between buddies, when in actuality part of him wanted the conversation to be real. As in … some sort of confession, maybe. Axel knew that he didn't know Roxas entirely enough to move on to that, but a year's worth of waiting could make a person impatient. Considering that, however, Axel didn't show any sign that he was at all serious about this pretend-joke of his.

"But seriously, though," he said, after their laughter had died down. Axel eyed Roxas with curiosity as they reached the fourth floor landing. "_Are_ you interested in guys?" After a few seconds, he added, "Just out of curiosity."

Roxas smiled humorously, saying, "I was completely serious about the bisexual part. I wouldn't have said it if I didn't know you were, too."

He had to restrain his overwhelming urge to sound prying, and Axel asked casually, "You already knew about my rather unprejudiced love life?" His tone came off as slightly cocky, yet it sounded level with his hints of teasing. "Why ever would that be, Roxas? Interested?" The redhead smirked down at him.

At this, the blond seemed to falter to some extent, cheeks turning a slight pink. "Ah, well," he began, laughing nervously. "It's just one of those things you hear now and again. It's not like I'm stalking you … or anything."

Axel grinned, pleased by the adorable display of embarrassment. "Roxas," he said, trying not to laugh, "I'm just kidding."

Roxas' cheeks pinked. "I knew that," he mumbled.

Deciding that he'd made the delightful boy uncomfortable enough, Axel switched the topic, pleased grin still in place. "You said you had something to do with a friend of yours. Where are you heading exactly?" He could spot the numbers 408 hanging above a large door not too far away, and he couldn't suppress the frown that followed. Once again, his time with Roxas was going to be cut short. So what was new?

"Oh, it's for the Talent Show. I'm rehearsing with a couple of people," Roxas said, his voice relaxed.

Axel, surprised, said, "Oh, really? What a coincidence; I was going to do the same thing. You never mentioned that you were entering the Talent Show." He grinned. "If I knew that, I'd campaign for your victory against Demyx," Axel said jokingly.

The blond started to grow nervous - of what, Axel wasn't sure - and didn't seem to find this funny. "Ah …" he muttered as they both drew closer to room 408.

When they were standing right in front of Axel's destination, the redhead turned to Roxas with a slightly sad but discreet smile. "This is my stop," he said. "I'll be seeing you around, I guess."

Roxas bit his lower lip, scratching the back of his head. "About that …"

Before he could finish however, the door came bursting open, revealing Demyx with a most joyful expression that would rival that of a child's on Christmas morning.

"You guys came!" he said, broad smile quite blinding.

Axel stiffened. "What?" he asked, unsure of what he'd just heard.

Demyx blinked, then said, "Ooooh!" in comprehension. "That's right! I forgot to mention - I needed someone who could play bass guitar really well, and I came up with my music buddy here! Roxas is really good, so we have absolutely no worries in that area. Your instruments are all set up, and we're good to go!"

The tall blond pranced into the room, grabbing his rhythm guitar, quite oblivious to the two standing stiffly side by side at the doorway. Turning around, he grinned at Axel and Roxas. "Within two and a half months worth of practice and rehearsals, I'm going to be a shoo-in for the grand prize. And I have you guys to thank for that!"

As Demyx turned towards who they assumed to be the drummer, Tidus, a freshman student, Axel managed to find his voice somewhere within the shambles of ongoing mental warfare.

"Oh … you didn't mention you were helping Demyx out, too," he said, not trusting himself to look at Roxas.

The blond coughed. "You didn't seem so up to the subject of your friend when I brought it up … so I figured I'd put it off, you know, since it was coming anyway."

Axel's left eye twitched.

Two and a half months.

Fuck.

* * *

"Okay, so don't go too slow or too fast," Demyx lectured Tidus, his freshman cousin, after distributing the sheet music to their appropriate musicians. "As our music teacher always says, if the whole band is off, blame the percussions!"

The younger blond frowned at him, drumsticks within dangerous reach. "When have I ever sucked at playing my own instrument, Dem?" he asked, disgruntled.

Blue eyes stared deadpan at him. "There was that one time at Jimmy's birthday party …"

Tidus flushed, glaring at Demyx, jabbing his drumsticks dangerously towards his older cousin. "Shut up! That was one time! _One time_. Aren't you ever going to let me live that down?"

As the two quarrelled, Axel tuned his fiery red guitar, his muscles tensing in between yells of "I'm telling auntie!" and "You tattle-tale! Not if I tell first!" which eventually led to, "Oh, _I'm_ a tattle-tale?"

The redhead wasn't one to throw blessings back into the face of heaven, in a manner that would have suggested, "Oh, here's your sorry excuse of a miracle back. I can manage on my own, thank you very much, so you can forget it. Oh, and while you're working on that, maybe you can strike me down with lightning, too." He wasn't an ungrateful person. In fact, Axel was quite a thankful young man who always, more often than not, made sure to recognize when he was lucky and be thankful. He didn't question much, and so was quite content with life as it was, not concerning a few things here and there, but he was doing fine. Today, however, this philosophy did a total one-eighty degree spin.

Glancing over at Roxas who was also tuning his instrument, Axel held back a sardonic snort. This was too coincidental. Just when he was wishing, "Oh, I do wish Roxas could spend more time with me. It's just so _tragic_ that I've had to wait so long for any opportunities," this strange coincidence had occurred. It was far too lucky, and far too close for comfort.

Axel wanted to slap himself. What, was he bipolar now in addition to bisexual? He had to treat this like a gift! A long awaited Christmas present that had been sitting at the top of his wish list for who knew how long; a fallen star right in his very own backyard; this was an opportunity!

Axel's hand stiffened at the neck of his electric guitar. _No_. Who the hell was he kidding. _Demyx_ was involved. There was no way on god's green earth that this was a miracle sent from above. A curse, more like. Axel couldn't recall having done a decent deed since childhood, so there was really no reason why he would be showered with blessings now. It all pointed to Demyx. Somehow, someway, it always did.

Axel grimaced, reaching for his black guitar pick from his back pants' pocket. There was a motto he had adopted a very long time ago: "When in doubt, blame Demyx." Somehow, in a strange way, he hadn't been wrong so far.

"What does that mean?"

He was about to retort, "It means that Demyx is the source of all my despair, you miserable ass of a retard." Thankfully, his senses snapped to attention in time enough for him to realize that it was Roxas who had spoken. If he did indeed call him a "miserable ass of a retard," then Axel would have stooped so low as to lick his shoes for mercy. It probably didn't matter if the blond got mad at him at all. Axel would do it anyway.

He looked up, seeing Roxas with his black-and-white bass guitar slung across his left shoulder, blue eyes peering with curiosity at Axel's bright red instrument. The redhead blinked.

"What does what mean?" he asked, feeling secretly stupid for having to ask.

Roxas pointed to Axel's guitar (in a way, Axel noted thankfully, that didn't indicate that Roxas thought he was stupid) and asked, "That character in black. Is it Chinese or Japanese?"

Axel looked down at the mentioned black kanji. "Oh, yeah. It's Japanese. It means jade."

Roxas glanced at his face, expression brightening a little. "Like, your eyes?"

Smiling despite his bad mood, Axel explained, "Yeah, exactly like my eyes. My brother and I both wanted this guitar, but we didn't want to get the same one since we practically own the same things. Even looks, except he has blue eyes. I put jade on before he could put sapphire. Long story. I ended up winning the thing."

Raising his brows in curiosity, Roxas walked over, taking a closer look at Axel's fascinating guitar, then at the redhead himself. "That's really cool. I never knew you had a brother."

Shrugging, Axel adjusted his guitar strap. "Yeah. His name's Reno. He's a couple of years older and he's always out of town which would explain why you've never seen him around before. But it doesn't take much to imagine what that idiot looks like. Exact same hair, same height, and he steals my clothes, the bastard. Except, yeah I mentioned he has blue eyes, but he has tattoos around his cheekbones," Axel raised a finger and drew an imaginary line across his own cheekbones. "Mine are on my cheeks."

Roxas smiled, eyeing the symmetrical upside-down teardrop tattoos, genuinely fascinated. "I guess I know how that feels. You know my twin, Sora. He steals my clothes, too, and I guess I take some of his sometimes."

Axel wrinkled his nose. "Even underwear?" He meant this as a joke and didn't expect Roxas to reply seriously.

The blond made a face. "That was one time. Sora pilfered my Mickey Mouse boxers in the third grade. Showed everyone in the boys' locker room." His frown indicated some sort of mental scar, and Axel winced.

"Bad?"

"Very."

"Alright everybody!" Demyx said, his ever present smile holding a slight tic, a sign that some sort of mental dam had come a-bursting (most likely from the previous spat with his cousin). "Tell me when you guys have gone over the sheet music, then we'll start. We have an hour, and that's not nearly enough for a first practice, but we'll make the best of it, won't we?"

Tidus snorted from behind him.

Demyx swivelled around promptly, a terrorizing expression on his face. "One more time and I'm telling your mother!"

"Oh, _fine_! Be like that. I'll just quit on you-"

"I dare you, Tidus. I swear to my own mother, I dare you to quit right now." Demyx did _not_ at all seem happy.

Upon the spluttering and grudging apologies that followed, Roxas and Axel exchanged knowing looks, shuddering in their own skin. "I bet Demyx has dirt on all of us …" Roxas whispered, laughing shakily, to which Axel replied with a tone of mourning, "Well you better bet high kid, because I don't think any of us are going to worm out of this any time soon."

Which was exactly what Axel was both hoping and dreading.

* * *

It was later that afternoon when the peace and quiet within the library was disrupted with a loud slam. Demyx and Zexion jerked up in surprise then recoiled in terror as they took in Axel's very angry, very tense form hovering above the table, across from them. The two of them were quite thankful that the piece of wood gave them appropriate distance, which would buy them a couple seconds head start if Axel so chose to leap across the table and grab their throats. The redhead looked like he could and would do it with the right kind of provocation.

Scared to even let out a breath, Demyx just stared at Axel with what he hoped was an expectant expression that did not suggest in any way that he would be crying soon. After a few terse seconds wherein all Axel did was glower at the blond, the redhead eventually spoke.

His voice was stretched out like a thin wire, on the verge of snapping if excess tension would happen to add on. "This really isn't funny, Demyx," Axel hissed, fingers unconsciously clawing at the wood beneath his palms. "Call off the entire thing. Right now."

Demyx tried a valiant attempt at smiling. "I have no idea-"

Axel snapped. "I know where you live."

At this the blond decided to cease trying to prolong the redhead's anger, attempting to be a little more serious. "Okay, I know what you're thinking, and I knew this would come up. That thing with Roxas was not what it looks like." Hastily, Demyx extended the explanation, before the undoubted "Off with his head!" signal from Axel. "I really want to win the Talent Show, Axel. I really do. I've been waiting for this opportunity for a really long time since, you know, freshmen students hardly ever get a spot in the top twenty." He smiled, sad somewhat. "This year's my year, and I'm only asking you to bear with being around Roxas, if he bothers you so much." Demyx ignored the subtle wince that came from Axel and continued. "Please, Axel. He's the only one I could think of to ask on such short notice, and he's really good with music, too. It'll only be until December, I promise-"

"You swear that's the only reason?" Axel interjected, voice still rigid.

Demyx smiled brightly. "Well, yeah. I figured I've been giving you way too much hell lately. Adding _that_ issue to the hay pile would be kind of cruel." He paused, looking at Axel with a curious expression. "Why do you even seem so troubled about it?" he asked, tone lowered.

Axel frowned, not in a displeased manner but in a way that suggested deep thought. He glanced discreetly at Zexion, who looked immersed in his own little world as he read a thick, leather bound book. He turned his attention to Demyx, frown still firmly in place, though his voice lost its stiffness.

"Let's just say certain things … aren't over," Axel muttered, eyes taking on a lost, uncertain and yet secure look. He glared at Demyx almost a second afterward, still not completely appeased. "But if I catch anything suspicious, blackmail or no blackmail, good luck finding a new lead guitarist. Memorize that."

Having had his say, the redhead left, muttering darkly under his breath.

Demyx couldn't help the smile that bloomed on his lips as he gazed at Axel's retreating form. "Hear that, Zexion? If that wasn't a confession, I don't know what it was!" He threw his hands up, laughing. "This is all going so smoothly! I can almost hear the wedding bells … _Here comes the bride_," the blond sang happily. Seconds later, Demyx noticed the complete lack of response, and turned to look at Zexion curiously.

The shorter boy had a shattered expression of disbelief plastered on his half visible features. "He bought it …" Zexion muttered, voice completely devoid of life. "I can't believe he bought all your crappy lies …"

Demyx glared at him. "They were half-truths, Zex. Political correctness, man. Besides, the ulterior motive was to live to see another day, right?"

Zexion scowled, tempted to hit Demyx with the copy of _Renaissance VI_ lying open in front of him. "You absolute moron. The ulterior motive was to meddle in Axel's love life. Or … nonexistent love life. Whatever. Point is, this is going to get you thrown off the highest building Axel can reach. And let me tell you," Zexion hissed, "I'm not picking pieces of you up in town square after Axel's pushed you off the Castle Theatre tower. I sure as hell won't be planning your funeral."

Sighing, Demyx enveloped Zexion in a choking embrace, smothering the protesting boy against his chest in what looked like a failing attempt at mothering. "Ah, Zex. It's wonderful that you care about me so much, but I promise I'm being careful! Axel believes me, I've got the best goddamn performance planned out, everything's going to be fine. Besides," he gripped Zexion into a playful headlock, grinning down at his ruffled best friend, "I have you to make sure I'm okay, right?"

Flushing, Zexion pulled away, snapping, "So Axel believes you. Big whoop. What about Roxas? All of this day and last week you've only ever focused on Axel."

The slow grin showing itself on Demyx's face was far too laid-back for Zexion's liking.

"Oh, well," Demyx began, beaming with smugness. "On top of observing Axel, driving him insane, wrangling me some dirt on my cousin, and planning out every single rehearsal between today and December 14, including locations, possible expenses, transportation, I managed to squeeze Roxas in - and he wasn't that hard of a case to deal with. All suspicions and theories confirmed, I think we're good to go." The following smile sent Zexion's way nearly gave him a seizure.

The younger boy allowed his head to fall smack dab onto the open book in front of him. Alas, his hopes of anti-matchmaking and possible loss of life or limb were futile. The spiral of events that would follow was out of his hands now.


	4. Act III: Calm Before The Storm

O A O

Remember when I said this story would be finished by the time mid-December would come knocking on my door? Remember the deadline that I set for myself, DESPITE THE FACT THAT I CANNOT FOLLOW ANY TIME-LIMITS OR SCHEDULES TO SAVE MY LIFE BECAUSE I AM AN IMPULSIVE CREATURE, EXCLUDING SCHOOL-RELATED SUBJECT AREAS? Well, here I am right now, feeling like I am possibly one of the most silly ladies on the entire planet. It's been two months since my supposed completion (ACTUALLY FINISH SOMETHING, DARNIT) of _Carpe Diem_, but lookie here peeps! IT'S NOT DONE.

(INSERT SAD PUPPY FACE OF EPIC CUTE, BUT YOU DON'T CARE BECAUSE THIS IS SO LATE IT'S NOT EVEN FUNNY - EVEN WITH A PUPPY FACE)

_Well_, I have had this chapter ready in quite a while, but editing was delayed (I CANNOT POST SOMETHING THAT I HAVE NOT EDITED) and now I am finally finished with sixty percent of my first chaptered story (Oh the horrors of imagining what to expect from me if I write a story with more than two chapters). I figured I'd just get it over with, despite a surprisingly shit-tacular day, which I was actually looking forward to last night. I've been half-depressed, half-hungry (NEW YORK FRIES OAO I'M SUCH A FATTIE), and a certain percentage of I-want-to-jump-off-a-cliff, and I know people don't give half a shit about this kind of stuff, BUT I NEED TO VENT. IN CAPS. SO I CAN LAUGH AT MYSELF ON A BETTER DAY WHEN I READ OVER THIS.

Anyway, I am not angry right now or emo (I definitely don't want to cut myself, and this was not meant in any way to be sarcastic) but I am simply tired. But the mere fact that I accomplished making the final adjustments to this chapter and having finally posted it makes me feel proud of myself : D. CLAP FOR ME. And my mood fluctuations are simply not something to laugh about (permanent PMS?) though despite that I am happy with myself!

Again, apologies for the immense delay, but unfortunately real life takes precedence over my writing : P. Unfortunately.

Onward!

* * *

Carpe Diem

_Seize the day. In my words, "Victory before insanity." That's what Zexion thought when Demyx had the brilliant idea to set Axel up with Roxas Caine._

_- - -_

_Act III: (Calm before the storm …)_

_(October 26, 2008: Friday)_

Roxas Caine, ever since he started high school, could never find a moment wherein he was grateful for the existence of Chemistry. The subject was simply abysmal no matter how he looked at it, and if his eyes so much as imagined the periodic table anywhere he would start to itch. It wasn't as if he failed the class. Chemistry was actually one of his best areas concerning school, but that didn't mean he enjoyed it. Roxas didn't have much of a reason for the unwarranted dislike, so he told himself day after day, as he walked into the Chem. Room and put on his lab gown and goggles that he was quite simply allergic to Chemistry. It was scientific fact and therefore could not be contradicted.

This was in freshman year when the honours class took the course as a sort of introduction in the beginning of the year, then a full term sometime in the middle.

Roxas detested every minute of it. Atomic mass, atomic number, Fe, protons, electrons, ionic compounds. So when they focused more on Biology, he was more than thankful for the break. Unfortunately, he would remind himself moodily every Science class, Chemistry was the main focus of the curriculum during junior year. Having no tolerance for the subject, Roxas eventually concluded somewhere in the middle of summer before his second year at Trinity High School that he would _not_ take the honours class for Chemistry _at all_. And the moment he walked into the Chem. Lab for the first time as a junior, Roxas couldn't help but think that his aversion towards the dreaded subject was a godsend.

Chemistry was the one and only class he had with Axel Kashou.

Roxas was eternally grateful for this opportunity. Within that fifty-two minute span of time, when he was trapped in the hellish Chem. Lab, he could take his sweet time staring at the back of Axel's head, make up some stupid excuse to walk past the cupboard where Axel was, work in a group with Axel, let Axel borrow a pencil - at some point, the subject changed from 'Chemistry' to 'Axel Kashou.'

Roxas was discreet about all of this because not only was talking to Axel going to take a large chunk out of his guts but also the redhead hung out with a different kind of crowd from his. Axel was popular, always in the group where the sun shone brightest, and Roxas was simply within the crowd that ranked second to the student body icons: the academic-but-not-nerdy-and-slightly-athletic group. His worth simply wasn't as appreciated.

But within the Chem. Lab, the two had never once greeted each other or had a decent conversation. Seeing as school was only just beginning, and they were only on the month of October, Roxas was adamant about not giving up hope.

Maybe, he thought, just maybe, one of these days I can approach him and have a _real_ conversation.

It was definitely one of his longtime goals in life, ever since he met Axel one fateful afternoon on his first day at Trinity. The redhead sparked his curiosity, and there was something about him that fascinated Roxas. Axel was vivid without being blinding, his actions were straightforward but didn't reveal everything about him, and he could be himself without trying. Roxas could see the way he acted when he was with his friends, and he had to say that Axel was genuine.

One can only imagine how many smiles Roxas cracked when he recalled Demyx Diluvia requesting (albeit with underlying blackmail) that he play bass guitar for him in the Talent Show. Which meant that Roxas would be spending two and a half months within the company of Axel. Granted, Demyx and Tidus were always there for rehearsals as well, but they mostly kept to themselves. They only ever argued anyway.

That left Axel and Roxas with each other, and the blond couldn't say that he had anything to complain about. Except maybe that he secretly wanted - just a tiny, little bit - rehearsal schedules to be lengthened, but that would make things a little too obvious. Aside from that miniscule, somewhat irrelevant detail, Roxas was living a happy dream.

Upon the discovery that Demyx held all three of them, Tidus, Axel, and Roxas, within the palm of his hand up until the night of December 16, Axel and Roxas had formed some sort of mourning camaraderie. Poor Tidus was, more often than not, too disgruntled to talk to either of them because of his frequent bickering with Demyx, and thus could not join their non-resistant alliance. "Neutrality is probably a good idea," Axel had said, his smile a mixture of fear and well contained resentment. "Demyx waging war on _both_ of us sounds like a bitter hell that I'd rather avoid."

Roxas wholeheartedly agreed.

He and Axel had grown a little more acquainted with each other over the course of the past few weeks and now they greeted each other in the hallway, conversations were frequent to the point when Roxas' tally went past the fingers on his hands, and Axel had spent a whole afternoon with him one day. It was when all the sports teams and managers were meeting after school on a Monday. Roxas felt himself smiling involuntarily every time he remembered.

"So …" Axel had said, grinning as their large group assembled on the bleachers facing the spacious green of the field. "You're one of the team managers. Any reason why?" He had wagged his eyebrows at Roxas.

Having caught the implied meaning, Roxas had rolled his eyes, nudging Axel with his elbow as they sat beside each other on one of the front benches. "Oh, you know, no particular reason. It's just that I wanted to see every single event you were in, stare at you a bit, possibly drool while you do the one-hundred meter dash, and take videos like a complete stalker and watch them at night."

Axel had also rolled his eyes at the sarcasm, leaning his back on Roxas' shoulder as he said, "Oh, _wow_. I didn't know you adored me so much, Roxas. Maybe I can give you a lock of my hair to go with your collection of stalker pictures, videos, used tissue - oh, and I'm missing my blue boxers, so I'm guessing you pilfered those, too."

Roxas had snorted, giving the redhead an incredulous look. "Nah, I already have a lock of your hair that I stole from your pink, sparkle brush one night when I was going through your bathroom, so it's all good."

Gasping in pretend shock, Axel had replied, "That's supposed to be secret! You _are_ a stalker!"

It was not a difficult task to talk to him - in fact, it seemed more of an enjoyable freedom than a "task" - and when Roxas did exchange a few words or two, Axel could manage to brighten his day with a simple comment, or even just a smile. The blond liked this about the redhead; even the smallest things, no matter how plain, as long as it was Axel, could make Roxas a little happy.

That would explain why, as the day of October 26 went by, within the Chem. Lab, Roxas was sitting happily at his station, the sight of the large periodic table at the front of the room not as revolting as it seemed on days when Axel's presence was lacking.

"All right, juniors," the teacher drawled, standing behind his large desk, addressing the room with lack of interest. "The materials and procedure for this experiment are all handed to you on a silver platter if you would all care to look at the sheets placed on your stations. And no, Jeremy, you can't do the lab if you have no _lab_ gown. You were given five days' notice beforehand, so I expect you to be more responsible. Alright, everyone else who came prepared, you know the drill: Wear your goggles and gloves, don't inhale anything, don't _eat_ anything, and don't break the costly materials. Remember to record your observations. Lab reports are due tomorrow, _Jeremy_. Get working, everyone."

"Hmm," Hayner muttered, taking the sheet of paper that listed the materials and procedure from atop his and Roxas' station. He eyed the thing with potent disgust. "First experiment's potassium iodide and lead nitrate. Yum. I'll get those, and you get two test tubes, a beaker, and a stirring rod. We can get the other stuff later." When the blond made to go where the chemicals were on a long table at the back of the room, he paused when there was no response from Roxas. Hayner turned back around, ready to get his best friend's ass moving, but was forced to stare a couple of seconds as he caught the face-splitting grin on the younger blond's face.

From the front of the room, Axel turned around, completely ignoring Riku who was slaving over gathering materials without getting trampled, and waved to Roxas, smile competing with the toxin levels of the chemicals in the room. Roxas waved back, trying not to laugh, and Hayner snorted in disgust.

"Are you listening to me at all, you bum?" he snapped, whacking Roxas on the back of the head.

"Ow!" Roxas shouted, swivelling around to glare at Hayner. "What was that for? And did you just call me a bum?"

Rolling his eyes, Hayner explained, "Yes, you bum. I'm cutting down on the swearing since I have to pay Olette five munny every time I do. Now get moving! Two test tubes, beaker, stirring rod!"

"Alright, alright," Roxas sighed, holding up his hands in surrender, moving to the large cupboard that held all of the assigned materials.

Hayner shook his head as he collected two bottles filled with potassium iodide and lead nitrate, looking around for beakers so he could measure 5 mL of each chemical, but froze when he saw Roxas all the way across the classroom - nowhere _near_ the equipment cupboard - chatting it up with _Axel_. Scowling venomously, Hayner placed the required chemicals atop their station and proceeded to the front of the room, intent on dragging Roxas towards where he needed to be. Which was _not_ in conversation with Flame-for-Brains.

"Uh, hello. Yeah," Hayner started, arms crossed in front of his chest as he smiled irritably at his best friend. Turning to Axel, the older blond frowned heavily, hoping for all that he was worth that his displeasure was _really_ obvious. "Do you mind if I take back my idiot over here? You see, if you're in the room, he tends to catch ADD and forgets all about what we're supposed to be doing. So if you'd stop distracting him for five seconds, maybe you two can chat it up like girls _later_ when we're _done_ with this dumb crap."

Axel merely raised his brows as high as they would go. Roxas palmed his face, either embarrassed or simply speechless. Hayner continued to glare at Axel.

Scratching the back of his head, looking slightly perplexed if not thoroughly amused, Axel glanced at Roxas, then turned back to Hayner with a slight smirk. "Fine by me, buddy. Just don't take too long. Me and your 'idiot' over here were having an interesting talk. See ya later then, Roxas." With a two-fingered salute, Axel headed back to his own station where Riku was looking absolutely disgruntled, although all their materials were now complete.

With a snort, Hayner dragged Roxas back to their table by the arm. He placed him in his stool, making his friend sit down despite protest, and glared at Roxas.

"Dude," he began, not at all happy. "Shouldn't _you_ be the one telling me to haul ass here? What're you doing slacking off!?"

Roxas winced as a couple of their classmates glanced their way, then gave Hayner a reproachful look. "I was about to get our materials, Hayner. Axel just had something to say, and I couldn't just ignore him, could I?"

Brown eyes rolling in their sockets, the older blond fished out two pairs of goggles from a drawer underneath their table and chucked one at Roxas which he caught. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Just get the materials and let's get this crap over and done with."

Roxas left their station, sighing in resignation, but was smiling later when he got all the materials together. Hayner gave him a look that asked why on earth he looked so damn amused, and Roxas answered him, "You said crap two times. I'm telling Olette later."

Frowning stormily, not at all finding that threat very funny, Hayner glowered unhappily at his best friend. "You do that Roxas, and we're going to have problems."

Grinning to himself as he sorted through the procedure sheet, Roxas quashed the laughter that was tempted to come bubbling out of his mouth. "Oh, yeah, Hayner. That's a real threat right there, because that's what you said last time I told on you."

"I followed through with that threat!" Hayner protested.

Roxas gave him a blank stare. "You pushed me into a playground sandbox. That's not very threatening."

"_And_," Hayner added, pointing a finger in front of Roxas's face, "I got sand into the most awkward places you can imagine, Roxas. You want a replay of that?"

As he winced in recollection of the hellish bath that incident had required afterward, Roxas was saved the suffering of having to reply by their Chemistry teacher who happened to be passing by. "Less chatting, boys. This experiment is not going to do itself."

Muttering their apologies, Hayner and Roxas proceeded to get on task, organizing all the materials on their station. As the teacher sauntered past them to attend to other mischief-makers, Hayner began to snicker. Roxas cracked a grin as his best friend whispered, "Get it? He said the experiment's not gonna do itself." The two of them laughed silently to themselves as they got to work.

They breezed through the tests, Roxas taking note of their observations and results, and soon managed to arrive at test four, the final experiment. Roxas noted this with relief as he jotted down observations on the lab sheet which was due the next day, and glanced up as Hayner read aloud from the procedure. "'Warning: The chemicals in experiment four can combust if not measured and combined properly.' Better be careful then, Roxas."

The younger blond nodded his consent, then whipped his head to Hayner, crying, "Hey! I'm not doing it alone." Roxas glanced at the procedure warily, then reread the warning. He frowned at his lab partner, and Hayner shrugged half-heartedly. "Dude, you're smarter than me. I don't wanna blow up our table and fail the class."

Sighing as he pinched the bridge of his nose, Roxas reread the procedure once more, then with a longsuffering look began measuring chemicals in their respectively labelled test tubes and had Hayner prepare the Bunsen burner. Warily feeling the material of his gloves against his palms, Roxas grasped the test tube holder firmly in one hand as he checked the measurement on the three he had filled. Holding one slightly above the burner, Roxas was about to add the second chemical as the first one bubbled, when he felt a prickling sensation and looked up instinctually.

From the front of the classroom Roxas caught Axel looking at him. The redhead seemed surprised that he noticed, but waved good naturedly when he saw Roxas look up. The blond grinned and had half a mind to wave back but was brought back down to earth with Hayner's jittery snap of, "Roxas, what the hell!? Are you crazy? You almost poured that stuff on our notes!"

Apologizing hastily, Roxas focused on the experiment, blushing heavily as he felt Axel's amusement from so far away. Trying his utmost to concentrate, Roxas added the chemical to the heated liquid in test tube one, watching as the steaming concoction turned a deep purple.

"Sweet," Hayner muttered in awe, handing Roxas the next test tube. "It says to wait a couple of minutes before adding the last chemical." He glanced up at the wall clock hanging atop the whiteboard in front of the classroom. "We got time."

As Hayner took down notes, asking Roxas now and again what he should write down, the blond glanced in fascination at the purple liquid within the test tube held firmly by the test tube holder he had in hand. Roxas wondered vaguely what colour it would turn once they added the third chemical, and began sorting through the rainbow in his head. As instructed, after a five-minute wait, Roxas had Hayner pour in the third chemical and the two watched in fascination as the mixture started to emit a hazy cloud of smoke. It dissipated moments later, and both Roxas and Hayner were disappointed to find that the colour of their mixture was still purple.

As Hayner finished writing down their observations, he glanced momentarily at Roxas who was beginning to clean up their table. "Well, I'm glad that's done. You typing out our report or am I gonna do it this time?"

Before Roxas could say "Half and half. It's faster if we split the work," a commotion towards the front of the room drew their attention. Apparently, Riku was having some sort of fit and was now arguing with Axel, and things only seemed to grow worse as one student - the Jeremy kid - ran towards the back via the middle isle of the classroom, screaming bloody murder.

"WATCH OUT! IT'S GONNA BLOW."

Roxas's eyes widened. Not a second sooner, sparks started flying from Axel's and Riku's station, and before anyone could run for cover there was a deafening crack, followed by an array of glass shards clattering to the floor. Girls screamed, guys whooped, and others like Roxas simply stared in horror as some dark blue liquid - or slime, more like - dripped onto the linoleum tiles from atop station number one. The whole classroom was deathly silent for a few moments until the bell rang, causing everyone to move in a hustle. No one wanted to stay in the Chem. Lab longer than necessary and one look at their livid Chemistry teacher would answer why. Roxas and Hayner both closed their gaping mouths and rushed, cleaning and putting away materials and flasks with frightening order and speed.

As they hung their lab gowns and put away their gloves and goggles, Roxas could hear their Chemistry teacher's terrifyingly calm voice as he and Hayner made for the door.

"You two are cleaning this mess up, _right now_. I expect the payment for damages to be made as soon as possible and I don't care how you go about doing it. No marks for this assignment; that should be sufficient punishment."

- - -

_(Lunch, Inizio Square)_

Sitting down underneath the shade, Roxas looked up distantly at the dark viridian array of leaves above him. Little rays of sunlight managed to pass through small gaps now and again between the foliage as the cool October breeze swept through overhead. The square was mostly empty, probably because Roxas arrived earlier than everybody else, and was calm and quiet. The blond placed his wrapped sandwich beside him on the concrete bench on which he sat, silently looking out into the field adjacent the square presently bare of students. He was practically the only one in the area for the moment. Everyone was still at their lockers or in the cafeteria so the campus grounds were relatively quiet a few minutes into the lunch hour.

Enjoying the rare peace, Roxas tilted his head back, watching as two sparrows chased each other through the greenery above him, and disappeared a moment later into the vast expanse of leaves and branches. His friends were still inside the school building, doing who knew what at their lockers, and more often than not Roxas arrived underneath the third oak tree before everyone else. He had no idea what kept Hayner and the others for such an amount of time but he found that he didn't mind. Today Roxas appreciated the peace. He needed a little time to think things over. One particular incident had been lingering in his thoughts often in the past weeks and it was of the first Talent Show practice.

Looking up at the warm sunlight touching him past all the random gaps in the foliage, Roxas lowered his eyelids, recalling the occasion with something like tentative fondness in his chest.

After their first run-through - which had been _that_ close to a disaster because of Demyx's constant quarrelling with his younger cousin - Axel had moodily said his goodbye to Roxas and had promptly ignored Demyx and Tidus and left as soon as the bell rang. Tidus had then stormed out himself, sheet music crumpled and slightly torn in his fist, which left Roxas and Demyx alone in the classroom, fixing up the instruments and desks and chairs.

Just as Roxas had his bass guitar slung over his shoulder and was making for the door Demyx had called out to him from where he leaned against the teacher's desk.

Turning around, his hand atop the doorknob of the exit, Roxas had looked at Demyx with a perplexed expression. He had thought it strange of the older blond to hold him back after practice. What could Demyx have to tell him, Roxas had wondered, that he couldn't say in front of the others?

As the taller blond scratched his head, as if fumbling for just the right words, Roxas had thought in silence, confused over Demyx's unusual beating around the bush. After a few moments Demyx finally announced what he had intended to say and his revelation had shocked Roxas cold - even at present - down to his very marrow.

"Do you have any feelings for Axel? And … I'm asking this as his friend, Roxas. I'm Axel's friend and your answer would mean the world to all of us." Demyx had said this with utmost sincerity that Roxas couldn't bear to doubt him, although his response was delayed by the numbness of shock.

For seconds Roxas had floundered around in his mind for an appropriate response. It had occurred to him to lie outright and deny what he felt for Axel, but something in Demyx's words called for the truth and anything far from it would have been unforgivable. And, Roxas had thought rather sadly, he would rather not deny the truth about someone who had come to mean so much to him, no matter how unfounded the reasons for his affection.

"Demyx … I … w-well …" Roxas had stuttered for a moment, feeling completely embarrassed by the whole situation. But as he looked up and saw that Demyx had an absolutely serious expression on his face, the awkwardness seemed to slowly dissipate naturally. Something about Demyx being serious called for a solemnity within Roxas that he couldn't control.

Organizing his thoughts, recovering from shock, Roxas began once more, this time sure - or as sure as he could be on a spur of the moment thought - about his words. Quietly he had confessed, "Demyx … I have honestly no reasonable excuse why, but I'm … crazy about Axel. I really am. I don't know why, not really how, though I'm pretty sure when …" Roxas had immediately blushed after saying the when part, pretty sure that he would sound unbearably pathetic if he told Demyx just how long he had had feelings for Axel. Nevertheless he had carried on, ignoring his blunder in speech for the moment. "Anyway … yeah. I like Axel a lot." Shooting Demyx an apprehensive glare, he had added, "This isn't something you're going to hold against me if I try to quit your band, right?"

Demyx's response had been an amused laugh, eyes sparkling more than usual as he looked at Roxas with something like fondness that the younger boy didn't necessarily get. "Don't worry, Roxas," he said as they both exited room 408, the door shutting with a noisy click behind them. "Axel won't know a thing about your secret. _Although_ is there anything I could do to help?"

When Demyx wagged his brows at Roxas, the shorter blond decided with a sense of weariness that any sort of interference from the eccentric musician would only bring grief not worth dealing with. So he had settled for a simple question that had nagged at the back of his mind since his untimely admission.

"How did you know that I liked Axel?" Roxas had muttered with a little hint of grumpiness. "You seemed so sure, Demyx. I've never told many people, so how do you know?"

Again, Roxas found himself receiving that fond, almost brotherly smile from Demyx, along with his response, "There's just something about the way you smile when he's near. I had a good feeling about it." At Roxas's worried look, Demyx had laughed, patting the younger blond on the shoulder. "Don't worry. It's not _that_ obvious."

From that day forward, Roxas always had the nagging suspicion that Demyx was always watching him and Axel whenever they had band practice for the Talent Show. And more often than not Roxas found himself stuck trying to learn a particular part of their song with Axel upon Demyx's insistence; Demyx would ask both of them to rehearse their lines for backing vocals together as he and his cousin once again tried to settle a dispute in the background; and Roxas had later on to discover in dismay that Demyx _was_ trying to help him in getting closer to Axel, via inconspicuous little errands and tasks here and there that rendered Axel and Roxas almost always alone in each other's company.

Roxas couldn't find it in his heart to feel unhappy with Demyx at the persistent poking and nudging - he _was_ being discreet about it - but somehow he felt as if he should be doing these things by himself without any help. After all, he didn't agree to Demyx's band proposal for nothing. The moment the older blond had asked him at the back of their music classroom to play bass guitar for him, Roxas could always recall one resolute thought that had made itself apparent in his mind in that very moment: This was an opportunity to get closer to Axel and there was no other choice but to seize it.

And so far he had let Demyx do all the work for him.

"Yo, Roxas. You awake there?"

His eyes snapped open as his mouth involuntarily let out a yelp of shock. Roxas bolted straight, immediately catching sight of the person who interrupted his train of thought. His breathe hitched quietly when he saw Axel hovering over him, willowy form blocking the light that filtered from the leaves above.

Scowling, Roxas found the strong temptation to slap Axel across the face for looking so smug about catching him off guard, but instead settled for huffing indignantly, picking up his forgotten sandwich from beside him on the concrete bench. "Axel, what the hell? I thought you were supposed to be cleaning up your mess in the Chem. Lab." Roxas raised a suspicious, reprimanding brow at the redhead. "You didn't leave Riku to do all the work by himself, did you?"

Snorting, Axel sat himself down beside Roxas, snatching the blond's sandwich from between his fingers. "Of course I didn't leave Riku to do all the work by himself. Jeez … Don't you trust me at all? Anyway, yeah. I cleaned that mess up as fast as hell. You would never believe the death glare teach was giving both of us. Actually, he was glaring more at _me_. Seemed to think that the whole thing was my fault." He eyed Roxas's sandwich then unwrapped it with an inspecting eye. "Tuna?" he asked, looking at Roxas.

"With tomatoes and lettuce," Roxas added, taking his lunch back. "And how _did_ your experiment blow up? You can't just expect me to believe that it exploded of its own whim and will." Peeling the plastic back from his sandwich, Roxas added in a quiet murmur, "And Riku was looking pretty upset, so I can only imagine that it _was_ your fault …"

Looking particularly offended, having heard Roxas's quiet accusation, Axel rushed to his own defense. "For your information, Rox, it was just as much Riku's fault as it was mine. He wasn't paying that much attention to me, honestly. And how was I to know that the chemicals were supposed to be combined in a specific order? _You_ can't expect me to remember every single little detail on that procedure sheet."

Roxas gave him a bland look, taking a bite out of his sandwich. "Right. Of course I won't expect so much from you - thank you for the reminder."

Smirking despite the insult, Axel held Roxas's chin in his hand, moving the blond's head from side to side, cooing at those irritated blue eyes. "And maybe I should also remind you, Roxas, that you shouldn't talk with your mouth full. Or do I have to spank you so you can remember?"

Blushing furiously, Roxas snapped his head away, absolutely refusing to let his thoughts run amuck because of Axel's imprudent wording. Swallowing his food, the blond frowned dispassionately at Axel. "Don't change the subject. I'll bet you weren't being so careful yourself during that experiment. You were probably distracted about something and your mind was off in la-la land," Roxas muttered, glowering at Axel. "How else would your whole station explode to bits like that …"

To Roxas's disbelief, Axel himself turned a bright shade of red and immediately withdrew his hand from Roxas's face. He coughed, seemingly embarrassed and muttered something inaudible, then immediately glared at Roxas with slight irritation though the blond could see that he wasn't mad. "I'm glad you think so highly of me, Roxas. It flatters me so much."

"Your welcome," said Roxas, taking another bite from his sandwich.

A few moments passed wherein both boys didn't say anything and the silence of the square was soon cluttered by a few number of students emerging from within the school building. As a couple of freshmen students sat over by the first oak tree nearest the field, Roxas extended his sandwich to Axel silently, asking the redhead wordlessly if he would like a bite. Axel smiled obligingly and took the sandwich from him and bit out of it. He chewed thoughtfully for a second, then glanced at the object with apparent fascination.

"That's good," he muttered after swallowing. "Did your mom make it?" he asked, green eyes looking curiously at the blond beside him.

Smiling, Roxas shook his head, taking a bite out of the sandwich himself. Chewing then swallowing, he explained, "Nah, my mom works nights so she doesn't have time in the morning. I make my lunch myself - and my brother's, too. I don't trust Sora to prepare food." Looking out into the vast expanse of their school field, Roxas shuddered. "He made the most horrible marble cake once. It was the most disgusting thing that my mouth ever tasted. I swear, a thousand of my taste buds died that day."

Axel looked at Roxas incredulously. "Really? Huh … That might be handy in future back sales."

Roxas gave Axel a despairing look. "Trust me when I say that I'll spare whoever I can from Sora's concoctions. He's a good brother, but he can't cook anything edible to save his life."

Chuckling in amusement, Axel took the sandwich back from Roxas, biting out of it again. "I have to say though, that's a mean sandwich you make Roxas. You'd make a perfect housewife one day." Axel gave the blond a smirk.

Flushing in indignation, Roxas snatched his sandwich back and didn't think to offer Axel any of his self-prepared food ever again. Vehemently taking a bite, the blond stared at the students that continued to emerge from the school building, walking, rushing, and chattering all around Inizio Square. The area was the usual place of assembly for students during sunny afternoons when they were dismissed for lunch, and it was on such Fridays when Roxas and his group of friends met right underneath the second oak tree, where Roxas and Axel now sat at present. But Hayner and the others were quite absent at the moment, earning from Roxas a deep-seated frown. Where could they all be?

"I'm guessing you're waiting for your friends," said Axel, although he already knew the answer by glancing at the unhappy expression on Roxas's face.

The blond nodded, looking down at his sandwich. "They're later than usual, and I'm starting to think they ditched me. It _is _Friday today, right?" he asked Axel, looking sincerely unsure whether he actually knew the day of the week or not.

The redhead grinned, amused, but knew not to laugh. "Yeah, it's Friday, Roxas. I'm sure they're just late, is all. I'll stay until they get here, if that makes you feel any better."

Roxas had half a mind to refuse the offer - still somewhat offended about the "housewife" comment - but something about the handsome contours of Axel's face - that irreverent grin a natural born possession of the redhead's lips, green eyes a shade Roxas had only ever heard of, his alabaster skin softened by the shade and warm light - couldn't help but to erase all thought of rebuttal in the blond's mind. In a few seconds, he had to wonder what he was so irritated about moments ago.

"I guess that's fine, if you don't think it's going to bother you," he muttered immediately, turning away from Axel's charming smile for fear of showing exactly how he felt about the redhead's prolonged company. "But aren't your friends looking for you?"

The older boy immediately grimaced at that mention and looked at Roxas with anxiety. "I can imagine that Riku's told them about my little accident today in Chem., so I'm not really looking forward to talking to any of them."

Faltering at that revelation, Roxas could feel his sandwich growing stale by the minute. "So I'm your refuge, then. At least we're both getting something out of this." The blond frowned, not feeling the benefit of this at all. The thought that Axel was only here to prevent an unwanted confrontation with his posse stung something irrational.

The redhead smiled, apologetic somewhat, and leaned back looking at the square bathed in warm noon sunlight. "Don't look like that, Roxas. I would've come anyway even if Riku wasn't out for my blood."

Stiffening at the notion that his thoughts were so transparent, Roxas frowned crossly. "You're so conceited," he muttered, nose crinkling at Axel, as was the blond's habit when he found himself irritated or angry. "I'm not mad at you for using me as an excuse to hide from Riku. I'm just irritated that my friends are taking so long, and that I have to wait out here on this bench for them." The unspoken "with _you_," could have been uttered and it wouldn't have stung Axel worse.

Frowning, noting that Roxas was obviously very unsettled about something, the redhead decided to keep quiet until he figured out what was making the blond so irritated.

Heavy moments of silence passed between them like cold winds though it should have been warm, the two watching as the square filled with its regular amount of students, an amount which made Roxas a little dizzy. Too many people in the same place tended to make him feel a little claustrophobic when he eyed passers-by far too often. And as several groups of students wandered back and forth across the large expanse, Roxas was forced to look down at his forlorn lunch, several bites taken from it yet still looking thoroughly neglected.

A gust of warm October wind blew past - autumns in Hollow Bastion tended to retain much of their summer counterpart's bliss and only held traces of iciness late into the November months - and the rustling of the leaves above from the second oak tree seemed a much more prominent clamour to the silent boys seated beneath her rather than the whispers, laughter, gossip, and greetings all exchanged by the students within the square. The sudden breeze held fast, although gentle, and prolonged its brush against the youth for a few moments then stopped entirely, the wind's echo heard through the rustling of overhead branches and leaves.

Roxas, still looking at his dismal sandwich, didn't seem to notice the rush in wind, appearing to look inconsolable, at least to a stranger passing by, because of the sad state his lunch was in - which, Roxas recalled sadly, he had prepared that morning with the utmost care, as he always did when handling food. It was only when a warm hand brushed against his cheek did he look up, a little startled, finding that Axel was touching his hair.

Wanting to know exactly _why_ the redhead was being so affectionate, Roxas opened his mouth both to protest and to inquire but was spared by a simple explanation by Axel.

"There're some leaves in your hair," he chuckled amusedly, brushing the green foreignness from Roxas's blond locks.

Shutting his gaping mouth immediately, Roxas could honestly say that he was torn between disappointment and laughter. He settled for the latter, finding it easier to laugh, earning a smile from Axel, and now he had to wonder for the second time that day what he was so upset about.

As the redhead rid Roxas's hair of the last stubborn traces of foliage, it was then when the blond spotted something odd about Axel. The older boy had been seated to his right all this time and so he hadn't been able to clearly inspect the right side of Axel's face. And sure enough, Roxas noticed with a highly amused bark of laughter, there was a smudge of blue on the redhead's right cheek, vengeful aftermath of today's chemistry mishap.

Axel looked at him funny, wondering what on earth was so hilarious at the moment that could take the seriousness from Roxas's face. The blond grinned, suppressing his laughter long enough to say, "You missed a spot," and pointed to Axel's cheek.

His face coloured - which only succeeded in making Roxas laugh even harder for the shade of red Axel's cheeks took seemed _so_ absurd in contrast to that navy blue stain - and he immediately hurried to wipe it off, only failing in the process because Axel couldn't quite see where the malicious patch of blue was. And if his hand were to graze slightly closer to his jaw Axel would have succeeded, but given his embarrassed state there wasn't much to think of except how funny he must have looked in front of Roxas.

The blond grinned unabashedly as Axel glared at him sternly for laughing so much. As a form of apology, Roxas reached out and proceeded to rub off the unyielding blotch, his smile broadening more as Axel muttered vehemently, "I've been walking around with more of that hideous stuff on my face … Now I know why those seniors were laughing. Why didn't you say something sooner?"

Snorting and immediately controlling more peals of laughter, Roxas masked his mirth with a cough, though this was in vain and Axel saw through it right away and glared even more. Amused, he said, "You were sitting on my right, so I couldn't really see at this angle. At least I said something at all, right?"

Axel merely frowned, though Roxas would have liked to think that the redhead was pouting.

Roxas rubbed away at the spot but when it proved mulish and refused to surrender to eradication, the blond held Axel's face with his other hand for leverage, setting his sandwich down first, and began to wipe at the blotch with renewed vigour, though he was gentle about it. When at last the obstinate mark was no more, Roxas drew back, still smiling, though his hand lingered on Axel's face. Their eyes met, and both found indistinguishable expressions on each other's faces.

Axel's green eyes were piercing for the first moments and when they softened with a sentiment that Roxas wouldn't dare think of, a sense of expectant calm hushed over. And it was within those seconds that the two boys sat beneath that second oak tree, on that concrete bench, Roxas's hand barely touching Axel's cheek, their eyes trained solely on each other, that something indescribable passed between them. Their silence was the sort where both parties could only wonder about what was going on in the other's head because neither boys would ever ask aloud. But this didn't endure for long because a distinguished shout of, "Roxas!" broke their trance, and Roxas moved away from Axel, refusing to show his disappointment.

Axel, too, moved back, spotting from way across the square the source of the interruption.

Roxas's friends were making their way towards their coveted Friday lunch bench, and it was Hayner who had called out to his best friend, obviously not aware of what he cut short.

Sighing, Roxas picked up his sandwich from where he had set it down on the bench earlier. Right now it looked the most pitiful sandwich that he had ever made and the blond attributed the sense of loss in his chest to this culinary failure.

"Well, I guess I better get going," the redhead murmured, laughing silently.

Roxas glanced at him with an expression that asked what was so humorous about the situation, or at least he had _meant_ to, but his lips only twitched into a smile that, like Axel's laugh, held no real amusement though Roxas himself wasn't aware of it. "Yeah. You'd have to face Riku _sometime_."

Grimacing, Axel stood from the bench and gave Roxas a pained smile. "That's probably smart. … well, see you later, Roxas."

As the redhead walked towards the field where the other members of the student body were now scattered all around, Roxas turned his attention to his approaching friends, frowning as Hayner and Pence plopped down on either side of him on the bench.

"Where were you guys?" he asked, completely forgetting about his sandwich. "You're never usually late."

Hayner shrugged, sifting through his lunch bag, leaving the job of explaining to Pence. The brunet shrugged as everyone else settled around the rest of the bench that went all the way surrounding the oak tree. There was Naminé, Kairi, Olette, and Roxas' brother Sora had yet to appear, but he was almost always late on Fridays anyway.

Pence got out his boxed lunch along with a fork and proceeded to clarify their tardiness to Roxas.

"Well," he began patiently, "there was some sort of hold up in the hallway earlier. Didn't really see what was going on though."

Nodding, Roxas stared out onto the square, unmindful of the chatter around him. Axel, for all his straightforwardness and honesty, was just about a mystery to Roxas as the manifestation of these feelings towards the older boy. He never quite knew why he liked Axel so much, even if he was sure that he did although he couldn't help thinking exactly _why_. There wasn't much to dislike, other than his double entendres and occasional cockiness, but Axel made up for that with being candid and, in an odd way, understanding. Over the past weeks, Roxas thought, they talked to each other more often and he found that it wasn't hard to approach Axel at all, no matter what he had to say. Axel had nothing to hide and when Roxas spoke to him, he felt that way, too.

_Then_, Roxas brooded, lowering his eyelids against the sunlight, _what was that earlier? _

As he pondered and questioned, as what was normal for him these days, Namine looked at her friend with concern in her eyes. It was never unusual for Roxas to be quiet, but Namine knew the reason for his silence now. As she had walked towards the square with Kairi, Olette, Hayner, and Pence, it seemed that she alone noticed what had taken place between Roxas and Axel just before their arrival. During freshman year Roxas had confided in her about his feelings for Axel and she had listened and supported him as only a best friend could do. She had felt so sad when Roxas had told her during the last day of school that he didn't like Axel anymore and that was that. Namine had known otherwise at the time but knew not to say anything; and her hopes weren't in vain after all! Though why did Roxas look so unhappy?

"Is it just me, or does Roxas seem a little more gloomy than usual?" Olette whispered to Namine and Kairi.

Kairi glanced at the blond as Namine replied, "You're right, Olette. He doesn't seem very happy …"

All three looked at Roxas. The boy was looking forlornly at his sandwich as if the thing were to start bawling tears any second. They turned their gazes to each other with group sympathy, worried over their friend. Roxas was the youngest of their group and for the longest time since they'd been friends the girls had always taken special attention towards his needs. And by needs this usually meant his clothes, dating, and Roxas' social agenda. It didn't take much of an effort anyway since all they had to do was give him the puppy eyes and Roxas was like putty in their hands. This, however, would never mean that he was a pushover - Roxas simply prioritized the happiness of his female friends over his own self-esteem and there was nothing wrong about that.

"Should we ask him?" whispered Kairi to the other two. "I don't wanna pry, but he seems really upset."

One more fond and concerned look towards Roxas (whom they probably considered to be their surrogate child/baby brother/pretend sister/Barbie doll) acquired a worried, motherly sigh from the three girls. Namine bit her lip, her resolve in keeping Roxas' sworn secret wavering. On the one hand, if she told Olette and Kairi, there was the possibility that they could all help Roxas. On the _other_ hand, Namine had no wish to disclose Roxas' secret. _Although_ as his friend it was her utmost duty to aim for the greater good …

It was at this time when Sora came jogging happily towards their coveted bench, sandwich in hand - his didn't look as if the Dark Ages had happened all over again. He sat himself down beside his brother, squirming in between his sibling and Hayner, earning a disgruntled comment from the older blond.

"So, what did I miss guys?" said Sora brightly.

When Roxas groaned with the sorrow of a thousand men having lost half their bank account on racing horses, it was then when Namine decided that the ends justified the means.

- - -

"_You_ are probably the most irresponsible, half-assed, idiotic friend I've ever had in life, Axel. Somehow, I can't believe myself for ever wanting you as a lab partner, let alone as my _best friend_."

Axel frowned dispassionately at Riku's towering form. He lay his head back down on the field grass and with a sigh said, "Beggars can't be choosers, Riku."

Turquoise eyes brimmed with the fire of spite. Riku honestly looked like he would very much like to beat Axel half to death with a tap pipe then proceed to stone him to his inevitable doom. God knew there were plenty of rocks within the area. The tap pipe however was another concern, but Riku was imaginative; there were thousands of beating substitutes within arm's reach.

"Aw, calm down, Riku," said Demyx with the intent of keeping the peace - and probably because Riku's foot was dangerously close to Axel's gut. "I'm sure Axel didn't mean to do that to your experiment. It could happen to anybody."

The prompt snort from Zexion, who was reading a book underneath the shade of a nearby tree, was completely ignored.

As Riku grinded his teeth at Demyx, "Butt out," on the tip of his tongue, Axel spoke first, which would later turn out to be a clear mistake.

"Of course I wanted to blow up our whole experiment, Dem! What's one bad mark within our entire lives? It could happen to _anybody_."

This ignited an entirely new kind of rage within Riku - he was looking positively homicidal with fury - who apparently didn't find this very funny. And before Demyx could jump in between the small distance that separated Axel from Riku, a shoe went sailing into the redhead's stomach. There was an unearthly howl of pain as Axel curled up into fetal position, Riku towering menacingly over him.

"_That_," he hissed, pointing a shaking finger at Axel, "was not funny. And you know what happened after you left me all alone in the Chem. Room to clean up _your_ god-awful mess? Our insane teacher made me clean _all_ the beakers, _all_ the flasks, and _I almost got third degree burns from a Bunsen burner that wasn't turned off_."

Axel wheezed out what was supposed to be a curse word, and after a coughing fit that sounded like he was about to hack up a hairball, he directed an utterly murderous glare at Riku and said, "You _asshole_. I was being _sarcastic_. _What is wrong with you?_" Axel wheezed out every single sentence because Riku had succeeded in knocking all the oxygen out of him and so the redhead couldn't manage to sound angry. Instead he seemed like a whispering hobo.

Refusing to utter anymore, Riku stalked off to buy lunch within the school cafeteria. Axel sat up painfully on the grass, glaring angrily at his best friend's retreating figure.

Wincing at the excruciating display, Demyx moved to the safety that was Zexion's side. Axel wasn't looking too happy at the moment and provoking him by any means seemed like a very stupid, suicidal thing to do.

"What exactly happened with those two?" the blond whispered to Zexion. "All I heard was that Axel blew up their entire lab station - and _that_ I don't really believe - and now Riku's mad at him because they got zeros on the whole assignment."

Zexion closed his book with a lively snap of page against page and proceeded to explain. "To my understanding that is what happened, although I have to agree with you that the entire lab station exploding is stupid because Axel and Riku are still alive. However, Riku seems to insist that it was entirely Axel's fault, and he's not defending himself, really. It's entirely unlikely that Riku would commit the mistake himself, though if he did he'd jump off a cliff first before admitting it. Axel on the other hand doesn't seem to care much, though it strikes me as odd that he didn't beat Riku's face in for that kick. Peculiar."

Demyx grinned widely. "Roxas is in Axel's chemistry class, isn't he?"

"My entire point exactly."

- - -

_(still Friday: Dismissal)_

The last thing that Roxas expected to see at the end of the day was Demyx by his locker, grinning widely with a sheepish expression that Roxas now knew to be wary of. Sheepish expressions from Demyx usually meant that he had some sort of request at hand and refusal (for Roxas, Axel, and Tidus anyway) was not in any way acceptable.

Roxas smiled back, the expression a bit forced. "Uh, what can I do for you, Demyx?"

The taller boy's timid air rapidly transformed into that of triumph. "Well, remember that we're supposed to have rehearsals after school today at the usual place? Room 408?"

"Practice is cancelled?" Roxas asked with a little more enthusiasm than what was necessary.

Demyx lightly hit the younger blond on his head with a notebook that he was holding, gentle enough to show fondness but hard enough to show disapproval. "_No_, you silly ducky. Location's just moved today is all. I have a dentist appointment that I completely forgot about this morning! So practice is at my house."

Roxas nodded, knowing not to show any form of objection.

"So you can catch a ride to my house with Axel! Don't worry, I already told him, and I won't be gone too long. Anyway, Axel's in the school parking lot waiting for you. Ciao, Roxie!"

Roxas gaped with shock and a feeling that he could possibly classify as invasion of his right to feel safe as Demyx made a speedy getaway towards the end of the hallway and was out of sight within seconds. He gulped, shutting his locker with a hollow, metallic click.

It was with vain hopes that Roxas had been wishing all afternoon that any Axel-encounters be postponed until he could clear his head about the incident during lunch. Now, not only would he have to endure one hour with the redhead who haunted his thoughts day and night, but he would also have to suffer through a car ride with Axel, his thoughts in turmoil, and there was always the possibility of staying for dinner with the Diluvias. Axel was a close friend of Demyx's and there was not a doubt in Roxas' mind that he would never refuse an invitation to dinner from his friend's mother. And Roxas knew that he himself wouldn't think of saying no to anyone's mother. Maternal figures had this thing about them that said, "I know you'll try you're best, but even if you disappoint me, that's okay, I'll love you no matter what," and _nobody_ whom Roxas knew to be alive could say no to _that_.

Begrudging fate and kind mothers in general, Roxas adjusted the strap on his bag as it bumped against his hip with every step he took down the stairs, towards the school lobby and out the front doors, onward to the parking lot. This was where the crowd of students seemed to thin out most because only a small minority owned cars. This made it easier to see Axel standing right next to a black _Converj_ that was shiny enough to blind him from across another continent. The sight of such a dazzling automobile made Roxas stop dead in his footsteps. He felt incredibly poor standing anywhere near that thing. A few seconds later however, Roxas got over the initial shock and firmly decided not to give Axel anything to gloat about, and in order to do that he couldn't be caught drooling at that holy piece of metal.

"Hey, Roxas," greeted the redhead as Roxas approached. "Ready to take a wild ride with my baby over here?" Axel wagged his brows, keys jangling merrily in one hand. "And you know that goes both ways."

The blond scoffed as Axel opened the door to the passenger seat for him like a proper footman, courteous bow and all. "And I refuse to respond to that," Roxas muttered darkly before sliding into the car seat.

Axel smirked. "But you just did, my dear." Before Roxas could protest the inappropriate use of endearment, Axel had already closed the car door and moved to the other side to get into the driver's seat - _his_ seat (Roxas simply denied his envy with a firm resistance).

The drive had been quiet enough at first, Axel's heavenly vehicle gliding past the school gates with nothing more than a whisper. It was several streets and turns later when they stopped at an intersection and Roxas broke the silence.

"So … uh, was this a gift from your parents?" asked the blond, eyeing the interior with desire.

Axel chuckled smilingly, glancing at Roxas then turning his eyes back toward the stop light. "You don't have to sound like this is some awkward first date, Roxas. Relax a little, would you?" He smiled more when Roxas turned pink. Wise enough not to agitate him any further, Axel moved on to explaining how he came into the possession of his black beauty, eyeing Roxas as the blond failed to quash his apparent envy.

"I have an older brother who earns piles of cash doing who knows what for his boss," said Axel, shifting gears as the lights changed perfunctorily from red, yellow, to green. "This was his first car; he got a sexier one, then gave me this 'outdated piece of junk.'" He feigned a forlorn sigh, and continued with: "Ah, the ails and woes of being the youngest child in the family. Always getting secondhand things."

Roxas rolled his eyes, apparently not acknowledging the fact that this was where he was supposed to sympathize. "Yes, Axel. That's so much worse than the time I got Cloud's old Scooby-Doo tricycle."

"What's so bad about that? Tricycles are fun. And as you said, it was Scooby-Doo. You can't get any more awesome than that, really, Roxas. Stop sounding so whiny."

Roxas looked glumly at Axel. "I was ten at the time."

The redhead started to cough and sneezed once, though Roxas pretended long and hard that the idiot was developing a terrible cold and was _not_ concealing his laughter, albeit in a very obvious manner.

The rest of the drive was relatively more peaceful and was filled with more friendly sarcasm and repartee between the two as they lapsed back to normalcy. Certain incidences earlier that day seemed to have been long forgotten by the time Axel pulled up a wide driveway facing a two-car garage.

Roxas stared up at the impressive house that towered well over the height of the garage and was caught between awe and disbelief. He followed Axel out of the car, but instead of going up the cobbled walkway to the front door, Axel skipped right over the low brick wall that led to the neighbouring house to the left.

The blond stared at the taller boy in confusion.

"Uh, Axel …" muttered Roxas, staring at the two houses with uncertainty. "Where are you going?"

The redhead stopped to look at Roxas from the other side of the low wall, then laughed aloud as if he just remembered something important. "Oh, yeah! Forgot to tell, ya, Roxie. That's my house." He pointed to the one where he parked his car. "I live right beside Demyx." He gestured with outstretched arms towards the even bigger white house whose lot he was now standing on.

Roxas let out a snort of disbelief before he could control himself. As he jumped over the wall, he muttered darkly, "Stupid rich people … won't even take the time to tell me these things …"

Cracking a smile, Axel decided to pretend he didn't hear this and walked straight to the front door. Without so much as a knock or a thought to ring the doorbell, he turned the brass doorknob and stepped through the threshold into the house. Roxas severely doubted whether he should continue following the redhead, but saw no other option because the thought of saying, "Oh, Axel, on second thought I'll wait right outside for Demyx. He can't take _that_ long," sounded really stupid. For one thing, Demyx's timing was unpredictable and one would have more luck predicting when exactly the apocalypse would come rather than trying to hazard a guess as to when Demyx would appear.

Sighing with apprehension, the blond stepped inside, feeling the weightlessness in his pocket that was the essence of "broke" as he looked around at the well-furnished surroundings. Roxas closed the door quietly behind him and followed Axel to a hallway that led to a brightly lit kitchen. At one of the counter stools sat Zexion, reading a weighty looking book, mp3 earphones making him oblivious to their entrance.

Axel came up behind him and unplugged the left earphone, grinning cheekily as Zexion turned around with an annoyed expression on his face.

"Oh, you're here," he muttered unenthusiastically, as if Axel came barging into other people's houses without warning on a regular basis. "Your instruments are all upstairs in Demyx's room. Tidus isn't here yet, but I've been told to tell you two that Demyx wants you both to practice the backing vocals. Now get to work." Without another word, he turned back to his book (Roxas, upon a glance over Zexion's shoulder, found that it was written in Latin), leaving Axel and Roxas to their assigned duties.

Shrugging with an impertinent roll of his eyes, Axel spun on his heel and pointed to the direction of a large staircase by the living room. "Right-o, Lord Valedictorian. C'mon, Roxie, before Zexion tells his lord and master that we're slacking."

Despite the fact that he had his music turned up, Zexion stiffened at this comment but made no defense or reply, earning an amused grin from Roxas as he headed upstairs with Axel.

Demyx's room was just as extravagant as the rest of the house, but it still held that touch of "Demyx" to it. There was a goldfish bowl on top of a desk that was right beside a canopied bed that, not surprisingly, had sheets in every shade of blue that Roxas had ever seen. What was impressive was that Demyx had a whole wall that held two rows of guitars - all in all, Roxas estimated that there were around eighteen.

His and Axel's own guitars were leaning against the foot of the bed along with the sheet music.

"What say we get practicing, Roxie?" Axel asked aloud as he sat down with a muffled _thump_ on Demyx's bed.

Roxas nodded, picking up the sheet music then sat down next to the redhead. "Sure."

Snatching the sheets away from Roxas, Axel threw them aside with a disapproving sound. "Hell no! Roxie, haven't you learned a thing? When I ask a question that calls for your inner golden boy, you're supposed to answer, 'No, because badass is the way to go.' Got it memorized?" To emphasize this unconventional chastising, Axel wagged a finger in Roxas' face.

Amused, the blond pushed his hand away with a grin. "Right, right. Badass. Got it. Not sure I'll enforce it though. 'Golden boy' just sounds so me, and 'badass' is more you. I don't feel like copying your style."

Axel laughed. "Aw, what's wrong with my style? Too dangerous for you?"

"Where do you get these lines?" Roxas asked, his smiling widening. "Cheesy romance novels?"

"I'm hurt," said Axel. "My lines are purely original, and if you happen to come across one of them in _your_ cheesy romance novels," Axel grinned at Roxas' irritated, "I do _not_ have romance novels," but ignored him, "then the author merely took a page from my very own book. The plagiarism is on their part I assure you, Roxas, because none have given me credit for my work so far."

Roxas refused to laugh, but knew that he had on a face-splitting grin. "You're impossible. Anyway, _your_ cheesy romance novels aside, shouldn't we practice? Won't Demyx find out if we don't?"

Shrugging, Axel leaned back on the bed with his arms for support, staring up at the blue canopy (why did Demyx have one, again?). "I doubt he would. He's too wired up these days. The auditions _are_ on Monday."

Roxas nodded, placing his elbows on his knees. "Right, Monday. This month went by kind of fast."

"Not fast enough," muttered Axel with a frown. "There's still November, and part of December. We're still stuck with him for that long, Roxie. Don't go smelling the fresh scent of freedom just yet, or are you that desperate to get rid of me?"

Ignoring the hidden agenda behind Axel's wording, Roxas merely sighed with exhaustion. "Well, I'll just be glad when this is all over and done with. Demyx can get really scary sometimes …"

The redhead considered the short silence that followed then decided to reply, "Yeah. I can't wait until this is over either."

Roxas was left to stare in a sort of mild surprise at the older boy beside him, feeling as if this was very un-Axel-like of Axel. The blond had a strong suspicion that it was because of something he said. Gently, he murmured, "Axel …"

"But where would my Roxie be without me?" Axel suddenly said, leaping off the bed onto his feet, causing Roxas to let out a surprised, "Geh …"

He spun around and pointed a finger at Roxas' face, smirking. "You won't get rid of me that easily, Roxie. If you think I'm going to leave you alone after all this crap has come and go like a bad cold, then you have another thing coming."

Roxas looked up at Axel with a stunned expression. For a moment all he could really do was gape like a dying fish, but his unintelligent gawping slowly curved into a smile as he let out a fond sort of chuckle. The blond understood.

"Yeah. I know we'll still be friends." Roxas smiled up at Axel. "You don't have to hide your 'sensitive side,' big guy. I know what you mean."

Axel seemed to be a little more than surprised, but at the same time grateful and pleased that he needn't elaborate. Chuckling sort of sheepishly, he returned to sit beside Roxas, bumping the younger boy's leg with his. "You're a nice break, kiddo. I don't have to explain so many things to you."

Roxas grinned, looking towards a poster of Demyx's that starred Yuna, the current goddess of the music industry. "I know."

A moment of content silence lapsed, Roxas looking around the room, observing things that made the living space such a part of Demyx's character. There was a keyboard at one corner of the room where numerous books which contained sheet music lay scattered and piled. There were other posters of Yuna around the walls, with a couple of other bands and musicians that Roxas recognized from ecstatic conversations of girls at school. A calendar was tacked on the wall directly above Demyx's desk, which was situated right next to a large window where bright afternoon light streamed in.

It was a few more moments into the silence when Roxas felt Axel's hand gently shift on top of his own. Roxas was careful not to stiffen, but was aware of a sweeping sensation in his stomach that reached his chest. Neither made a move to look at each other, settling instead for lapsing into a state of calm.

When Axel leaned his head against Roxas' shoulder, the only thing they could do was smile.

- - -

_Downstairs (In The Diluvia Basement)_

Zexion was sitting casually on the basement couch, watching television when Demyx fell from the basement window and landed on the carpeted floor with a painful thud. Zexion was about to inquire as to the blond's wellbeing, but Demyx appeared to be quite fine seeing as he paid no attention to his own pain and instead bounded straight to Zexion, half tripping once before flinging himself on the couch.

"SO?" he practically yelled in a hoarse whisper. "Did you do it?"

Zexion shoved Demyx off his lap, then explained briskly, "Yes, I locked your bedroom door. Axel and Roxas have been trapped in there for two whole hours now. I haven't heard a scream, yell, or plea for rations as of yet, so I assume that they haven't noticed."

An extremely creepy smile appeared on Demyx's face.

"Which means that Axel and Roxas are _busy_ …"

Zexion slapped him across the face - very lightly, but enough to stun Demyx. "I haven't heard anything like _that_ either. And I know that they're having very platonic interactions right now because I check on them now and again to make sure they're alive and well."

Snorting, Demyx sat properly beside Zexion, crossing his arms disapprovingly. "Platonic won't do!" he whined. "Two hours is enough for people to get together, right?"

Zexion frowned. "Yes, if they're drunk. And I'm very sure that Axel and Roxas are sensible enough not to get it on in someone else's house."

Demyx frowned back. "I wouldn't mind lending them my bed-"

"That is disgusting."

- - -

"Axel, would you _stop_ that …"

"You know you like it, Roxas."

"Well, get off- Hey, what are you touching!?"

"Oh, nothing, Roxie …"

"Don't do that!"

"But it's _fun_."

"Ah …! Axel!"

"What? Losing focus already?"

"Ngh … Axel … st-stop! Hey!"

There was a loud beep and an annoying, rainbow-coloured _Game Over_ flashed on the screen of Roxas' cellphone. For the fifteenth time in a row he lost against Axel in Tetris.

The blond let out a sigh. "You're so annoying, Axel."

Snatching the phone away from Roxas, Axel smirked. "I just have strategy and you don't."

"You're distracting me!" True enough, in those past fifteen rounds of epic Tetris, all Axel did was distract Roxas and press random buttons on the cellphone from behind Roxas as the blond played. Thus explaining Roxas' fifteen losses.

"Right, right. It's strategy, Roxas. Strategy."

The blond frowned. "Well if that's how you wanna play."

Axel then lost the rest of the rounds due to the fact that Roxas kept pulling his shirt over his head and yanking on the garter of his boxers. Which then resulted in Axel tackling Roxas to the floor. The redhead won the ensuing wrestling contest, but was distracted by Demyx's entrance, giving Roxas the best opportunity for the most painful wedgie he had ever gotten.


End file.
